Orions'Ka
by Shamera
Summary: Lots and LOTS of series crossed over. *goes cross-eyed*
1. Orions'Ka, chapter 1

shampoo@spyring.com 

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Extreme possiblities, 

Enter my mind. 

Conquer, 

Demolish. 

Enter... 

THE EXTREME OF ORIONS'KA 

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NOTE: Animorphs takes after book 14, no more, no less. So in this book, Tobias does not find out that Prince Elfangor is his father yet. Nor does anyone except Marco, Jake, and Erek know that Visser One is Marco's mother. 

ORIONS'KA 

Chapter 1 by: Shampoo 

Rachel tossed back her long, golden hair which she had just cut. *Jagged edges,* she thought to herself with a shudder. *I really need to get it cut again.* 

"What about this color?" Cassie asked her best friend. Sometimes- okay, most of the time, Rachel really annoyed her with all her shopping. Rachel was looking for a sweater in the mall that might not even exsist. 

"Nope," Rachel replied with coolness in her voice. "I think it has those cut sleeves. And the color's still not right." 

"Hey, Cassie! Rachel! What are you guys doing here?" Came a voice from behind them. Cassie turned to find Jake, along with Marco and Ax, or along with Marco, *draging* Ax, in the same store. 

"I was thinking the same thing!" Rachel replied airily. There was a hint of seriousness in her voice. She looked from Jake to Ax, skipping Marco. "Why don't we go to the food court? I'm starving." 

Marco groaned. "You just have to make this hard on me, don't you? First time I came without insults, and you try to kill me!" He pointed at Ax. 

Rachel looked at him, an eyebrow rising. Ooh, she loved to play serious around him. All the merrier. "I'm sure Ax is hungry, too." she stepped over to Cassie. "And it would be a bit sad if you tried to stop him from eating." 

Ax took no expression at this, and remained silent. A rare thing. A very, very rare thing indeed. 

"Give me a break!" Marco shouted out. It was a miracle the crowd hadn't even noticed. "I-" 

"Hi Tobias!" Rachel said, a sudden smile on her face. Tobias, the last person of the crazy group to arrive, blinked in Rachel's direction. It was as if he were blind. 

As Tobias joined the group, things began to quiet down. All five members of the Protectors-of-the-Earth were there, and all of them knew something was going on. Usually, Ax would be pointing places out, and rushing towards anything he smelled. But he was very serious today. 

"One question. Is this supposed to be all silent, or am I just acting up?" Marco spoke out. No one answered him. "Hello? People? Okay, people, and aliens? Look alive here." 

"Shut up, Marco." Jake said. 

"Yeah, you're ruining the dramatic tension." Rachel added. "Either that, or Ax has something really important to tell us." 

With that, Ax spoke up for the first time. "I have been watching for my people to show these few days," he started, and once again, Marco busted in. 

"You mean they're here? Already? That's so cool! Now we can just be normal kids! No more fighting the Yeerks? No more 'I have to skip homeowrk today because I was busy trying to save the human race?'" 

"No, I do not mean that." Ax said, a bit annoyed. "I mean that I saw movement on one of the planets of the red star. Orions'Ka, if I do believe it's called. There's some kind of activity there that I cannot identify." 

"Orions'Ka? Sounds like the Orion. I forgot where I heard that from, though." Marco said, scratching his head. 

"I do not know if Orion came from the name Orions'Ka. But I have been seeing a different movement there. Something is bound to happen." Ax said. Everyone had arrived at the food court and were taking seats. 

"How can you see Orions'Ka?" Cassie asked. "If it's far away like Orion, I'm sure not even the strongest telescope on Earth can make out activity on Orions'Ka." 

"Some people believe that Orions'Ka is the center of the universe. Not unlike how you humans thought that Earth was the center of the universe a thousand years ago. But Orions'Ka had been one of the first planets to be known by the Andalites. And everything, including it's sun, revolved around it." Ax said. He had his palms on the table, a very human-like gesture. Everyone was silent for a moment. 

"So if Orions'Ka is said to be the center of the universe, then what happens around the universe means that's what's happeneing on Orions'Ka. Like if Orions'Ka is at peace, everyone else is at peace, and if there's war, Orions'Ka knows about it first?" Tobias cut in, seeming like he understood the whole theory already. 

"Almost." Ax responded carefully. "But Orions'Ka doesn't envolve people, nor the wars they cause. Orions'Ka had been at peace even over the war between the Yeerks and the Andalites. But there has been some strange sightings by humans, I believe, these few days. Space-time rips, Black holes appearing out of nowhere, the birth of thousands of new suns together and dominating each other at a time, and the death of many, many worlds." 

"But if we can see it, doesn't that mean that everything had already happened millions of years ago?" Rachel asked. 

"It might." Ax said. "Or it can mean that Orions'Ka is ready to self-destruct." 

Jake pondered for a moment. The center of the universe self-destructing was not a good idea. "So what are we supposed to do with this situation?" 

Ax shook his head sadly. "I do not know, Prince Jake. I can only deliver this message. Perhaps others would have a better chance in helping than us." 

"Perhaps is right," came a voice from behind them. Everyone turned to see Erek behind them with a tray of fries and drinks. He puts it on the table as he slips into the extra chair there. "Anyone wants any fries? My treat." 

Erek was an adroid. Created by the Primites, his kind was called the Chee with the big floppy ears and large sad eyes that resembled the late-Primites. The Chee were a race of non- violent adroids, and Erek was the only one in his race to experience violence, but only for a short period of time, when he realized why the Chee were non-violent. So now, he helped the Animorphs only in information. 

He suddenly got serious. "The Andalite's right. There's nothing people can do about it. No one can really do anything." He leaned towards them, and dropped his voice to a whisper. "But I heard that there are some people from different universes that came to save Orions'Ka. And that one group from this universe is to get to Orions'Ka and help." he leaned back and smiled to look casual. Suddenly his hologram disappeared, and only white, shiny metal was in his place. 

"I heard that Visser Three plans to be part of that group. He's taking some top ranking Yeerks with him to a place called the Extreme. Forchantly, it's on Earth." Erek the Chee stopped dramaticly. "Unforchantly, the Extreme is also in a place called the Truth Circle." 

"The Truth Circle?" Marco asked. "I thought it was only stories." Jake and Rachel nodded. 

"What Truth Circle?" Tobias asked curiously. He may have heard of lots of strange things and stories in his childhood, but he had never heard of the Truth Circle before. 

"The Truth Circle is supposidly a place where your thoughts can't lie." Rachel told him. "You can tell lies, but they won't be convincing. And since Visser Three can talk through thought speech..." she didn't have to finish the sentence. 

"You have to stop him." Erek said. "If he gets to Orions'Ka, and turn everyone else there into Yeerks, then either the Orions'Ka self-destruct, or he finds a way to control the planet. And if he does that, the Yeerks would be unstoppable." 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Marco said, hands up in defeat. "You load all this information on us and expect us to do the impossible? I mean, if we get caught by Visser Three in the Truth Circle, we're dead meat. Not to mention Yeerk tools. I, personnally, do not like to think of all the ways Visser Three would kill us if he found out we're the ones who had caused him all his troubles. And most likely, I do not like to think of myself as being controlled by Yeerks." 

Everyone shuddered in thought. It was a great risk, all right, but someone had to do the dirty work. 

"I don't care what you guys say," Rachel said, the same as every time. But this time there was a quiver in her voice. "But I'm in. I'm doing this for my family, and you guys." 

"Oh, bravely put." Marco told her. "But this is a suicide mission, you know that? Or else you're more insane than I thought." 

"Rachel's right." Cassie said, ignoring Marco. "We have to do this, and we have to do this together. This is for our family and friends. Not to mention the entire human race and every- thing else." 

"Oh, so now it's not just Mother Nature but everything else?" Marco asked accusingly. 

"Marco..." Jake warned, leaving the sentence unfinished. Marco had just stepped over the line. 

"So sue me, I said something wrong," Marco snapped. He was *very* annoyed today. Having to decide the fate of the human race a few times were enough, but to decide the fate of the entire universe? Or all the universes, as many as there might be? Seems too good to be true. 

"We have to try." Tobias cut in, careful about his words. "Visser Three isn't telephathic, he mearly thought-speaks. It can't be that bad." 

"Speak for yourself, Bird-Boy," Marco said, a bit more calm now. "I have a dad that'll fall apart if I disappear." *The same way my mom did,* he didn't add. 

Erek smiled a weak smile, the hologram of the human 'Erek' up around him again. "Then we will plan something that isn't as dangerous as what you're thinking." 

*** 

(NOTE: This series? Don't ask.) 

You-chan stood with Lass and Miigie up on top of the Pasfid Hill. They were all arguing- again. 

"I'm telling you! I didn't feel the earthquake!" You-chan shouted at Miigie. 

"How can you not feel the biggest earthquake in the entire history of Orions'Ka?!" Miigie snapped back. "This- this could be something indicating the end of Orions'Ka, and you're supposed to be a MISTRESS! Orions'Ka is your power source!" 

You-chan turned her head the opposite direction of Miigie sharply, and crossed her arms tightly in front of her. "I was asleep! And I didn't feel nothin', I tell you! Besides, what does it have to do with my being a Mistress of Orions'Ka?" 

"Will you both just QUIT for once?!" Lass shouted, pushing the two... um, 'friends', apart from each other's throats. "This is not to be fought over!" 

Both Miigie and You-chan stopped yelling at each other, and turned to Lass. 

"How do you know what's to be fought over?!" 

"And what's that supposed to mean?!" 

"I know what I fight, and I know if I'm right!" 

"Oh do you?! You shouldn't-" 

"Hey! Who're ya talking about?!" 

"This is *not* acceptable!!!" 

"I'll tell you what's acceptable! Anything *I* say is acceptable!" 

"Oh yeah?! Why's that?!" 

"I'm a Mistress, that's why!" 

"And what does it have to do with you being a Mistress?!" 

"You're A Mistress, I'm THE Princess!" 

"Oh yeah?! Well, I'm one of the Illusion Twins!" 

"SO?! What does that have to do with anything?!" 

And so the fight continues... I don't think they'll be of any use to this story for a while.... *fade to black* 

*** 

(NOTE: I have only read up to book three in Inu-Yasha, and got a few spoilers on the end of the Thunder Brothers. I've heard some pretty weird things on the fanfics, including that Inu-Yasha was in love with Kikyo, the previous incarnation of Kagome, and the Priestress who killed him. I don't know if that's true or anything, okay? I'll write to where I read.) 

Shippo watched yet another fight between Kagome and Inu- Yasha again, and waited patiently for it to end, the same way it usually did. 

(NOTE: I know I haven't read to the part Shippo joins Kagome and all, but I had to include him! I agree with Kagome, Shippo is cuuute!) 

Moiga the Flea jumped on top of Shippo's shoulder. "What is the subject of *this* fight?" he asked, surveying the damage from a distence. 

"Oh, I don't know." Shippo admitted, his tail twitching. "Something Kagome said about a 'failed math test'. I think she's really angry." he paused. The cute little kitsune (Fox) demon wondered how Kagome and Inu-Yasha could always just keep fighting. Although he hated the Dog-demon who always picked on Kagome, whom he considered as a sort of big sister, he could not understand how the two could fight so! 

Moiga shook his little flea head. "One day someone will have to teach Lord Inu-Yasha manners! If only those two can work together without all these fights, I'm sure we'd have the Shikon Jewel all found by now!" 

Shippo shrugged when he heard the fight end with Kagome's usual, "SIT!" and Inu-Yasha having to obay because of the magic beads around his neck. Though Shippo really wouldn't call that sitting, that is... more like a DIE. 

Kagome stomped towards the camp, and gathered Shippo on her shoulder. "Come on, Shippo- we're leaving." 

"Hey!" Inu-Yasha called from where he was. "Where do you think you're going?! This forest is full of demons! You can't possible cross without getting attacked!" 

"Why should you care?" Kagome asked, not sparing a glance at his direction. "Thought you said you DIDN'T care!" 

Inu-Yasha stopped, but then turned his head sharply to the side stubbornly. "Feh. That's right, I don't care if you get eaten or killed. I only want to protect the Jewel!" 

Kagome was furious. "Fine! If all you care about is your stupid Jewel, take it!" She threw him the shreads to the Jewel of Four Souls. He caught it hesitently, a look of surprise on his face. "You know, once, for a moment I thought you would actually care more than a stupid jewel! I guess I was WRONG! 

"I'm going home, and I'm not coming back!" She told him. "And as for crossing the forest, Shippo's enough of a demon to handle them!" She stomped off, leaving a very, very surprised and angry Inu-Yasha behind. 

Shippo took a quick glance at Inu-Yasha, then at Kagome. It wasn't very hard to see the tears in Kagome's eyes. She was still walking away from the camp slowly, her senses open to detect any harmful demons nearby. 

Shippo took the time to act like the small kid he was and looked up at Kagome with big, sad eyes. She looked at him sadly, then smiled once they were out of hearing range for Inu-Yasha. 

"What's his problem?" Kagome went, trying to force the usual anger in her voice. She failed- badly. "I mean- he seemed nice enough. But all he cares about is his s-stupid J-jewel..." Kagome stopped, getting the hiccups from crying. 

Shippo didn't know what to do. He had only known Kagome for a short while, but he knew Kagome considered him as a great friend, and would always come to his rescue when Inu-Yasha picked on him- because of his age, or because of his size. 

"But aren't you supposed to protect the Jewel from demons?" Shippo said, but regretted the choice of words badly as soon as they left his mouth. 

Kagome snorted through the tears. "Why should I care? I'm not coming back here anymore, anyway. Maybe you could come with me back home, Shippo," she said with a smile, putting down the three foot tall child fox demon. "You and Sota could really get along." 

Shippo still wouldn't let the subject drop. "But-" 

"I'm sure you two will find a lot in common." Kagome continued, her face telling him to drop the subject. Shippo was very confused. He didn't like the half-demon, sure. But Inu-Yasha was always there for Kagome. They were at least friends, weren't they? 

"What's Sota like?" he asked eagerly, putting the subject to the back of his mind. He would get all the information out of her, but not now. Not when she didn't want to talk. 

Kagome smiled, and started to talk about her little brother... 

*** 

(NOTE: It's famous! I wonder why people haven't thought of this before... But then, this is after Ash defeats Sabrina and her pyschic Pokemon, and Brock gets Vulpix.) 

"Ash! Come look!" Misty called out. "Brock found some- thing!" she waved for the boy at the other end of the road to see. 

"What is it?" Ash asked as he arrived. Brock and Misty were both waiting for him. Brock was grooming his new Vulpix. 

"Have you ever heard of the Center of the Universe? Or the Omega Jewel planet?" Brock asked once Ash and Misty were both settled down. "It is supposed to hold the power of the universe. And control it too." 

"Wow! Cool, ya mean that the Omega Jewel planet controls the universe?" Ash asked, Pikachu sleeping on his head. He leaned closer to the fire. "What kind of power is that?" 

"I've only heard stories... but isn't that planet called Orions'Ka?" Misty asked. "I was told that the planet holds the Omega Jewel, and that whoever finds the Jewel, would be granted one wish." Misty had her hands together in front of her, and her eyes were huge stars. 

"What are you going to wish for, Misty? Someone to like you?" Ash asked accusingly. Misty smacked him over the head, waking Pikachu up. "I don't *need* to wish for that!" 

"Actually, the wish part isn't true." Brock told them as they both facefaulted. "But the Omega Jewel controls all the other mythical jewels in the universe. Not to mention, it's Orions'Ka's main source of power." 

"When did you learn all that, Brock?" Ash asked. He was trying to get Pikachu back from Misty when something exploded in the sky. "What's that?!" 

Both Brock and Misty were standing now, and looked towards the sky where there was a falling star. A HUGE one. 

"It's a shooting star!" Misty exclaimed happily. "I'm going to make a wish." She closed her eyes. 

"Wait!" Brock said, and Misty opened her eyes, confused. "What? What is it?" she asked as Brock pointed to the star, which one could now see as a phenomoen of swirling pinks and blues. 

"Huh?" Ash questioned. The colors were getting closer now, and more entrense than ever. There were now reds and greens, and violets in the ball of colors. And it kept growing bigger and bigger. 

"Look out!" Brock shouted as he realized it was heading their way. All three of them broke into a run, Vulpix and Pikachu running by their master's sides. 

The colors swirled tightly around the object it was hiding, and was indeed bigger than the entire forest. Aiming at it's target in the middle of the forest, running, it continued it's crash with no delay. 

There was a splemendous crash as the colors revieled their hidden weapon and landed- swallowing the entire forest. 

*** 

(NOTE: Yeah, it's me again. This takes just one day after the end of Vision of the Future, okay? Don't be asking me any questions on this, but IT IS A BIG SPOILER! Ad for those of you that don't know this at all, it's Star Wars. Okay, that's all I have to say for now.) 

Mara sqinted in the sunlight, as if trying to catch a glimpse of the sun itself. She was on top of the Imperial Palace on Corscant, waiting for someone. 

"Did you talk to Leia?" she asked, not turning around to see who it was that walked up to her. 

"Yeah, I talked to her all right." Luke replied, leaning on the railing next to her. "She thought I was joking when I said that it couldn't be a big wedding." 

"You have to feel sorry for her, though," Mara said. "She's used to all that glamier, and now all we want is some- thing small." She turned and smiled at him. "Maybe she just doesn't get it." 

"'Getting It' isn't a problem for her." Luke said, lost in memory. He suddenly grinned. "I think she wants revenge for me almost missing her wedding." 

"You?" Mara asked, acting shocked. "The all-powerful Jedi missing his sister's wedding?" 

"Would you drop that?" Luke growled. "I thought you said that you *would* drop it." 

"I know," Mara said smuggly. "I'm just having fun. When does someone like you get embarresed because of something you almost forgot?" she smiled innocently. 

Luke had to grin at that. It was not true, of course. Mara had seen a lot of things like that about him before, not to mention how she knew everything about him now, but she never hesitated to tease him about it. 

Turning back to leaning on the railing and viewing the stars, she asked, "Have you noticed something different tonight?" Her attention was fixed on the stars again. Luke strained to see what she saw, but couldn't really see anything different. 

"What?" he asked. Yes, something was wrong, that was all he knew. Something was wrong, but he couldn't be sure what it was, and why he was getting that feeling. 

"Oh, I don't know." Mara said evenly, he gaze locked on one singe star that glowed a bright blue. "I just get this feeling that something's about to happen. I can't get a pinpoint on why, though." 

"I get the same feeling too," Luke said softly after a minute of two. "And I have a feeling this is not Corscant any- more." 

Mara was jerked out of her concentration from the calm in his words. "What do you mean?" she demanded, then looked to where Luke was pointing. "I'll be Kesseled," she breathed. "That's Corscant's star." 

She looked at him sharply. "Then where are we?" 

The image of Corscant's roof, and all the peaceful moon- light disappeared, leaving a rough forest landscape behind. There were many large trees surrounding them, and the stars were barely visible against golden night sky. 

"I think the Palace was all an illustion for a while." Luke concluded. "We've been here for a while already." 

Mara just gaped, awed at where she was. She had never been here all her life, dispite many trading routes she had to go through. What and where in Kessel were they? 

*** 

(NOTE: I'm getting tired of this. This is Star Trek: Voyager, okay? I don't know where this takes after, so DON'T ASK. Well, till I'm done with this part.) 

"On screen." Captain Janeway ordered. The viewing screen in front of her suddenly had a picture of a large vortex in front of Voyager. 

"Wow," Lt. Paris breathed. He was at the helm station, just a usual, (NOTE: This is before Tom gets demoted to Ensign.) and had his eyes glued to the beatuifully deadly space anomoly in front of him. 

"Tuvok," Janeway ordered without tearing her eyes from the screen. "Is this what's draining the ship's engines?" 

"It appears so," Tuvok replied, his voice non-emotional. "But this vortex has never been encountered by Starfleet before." 

The Captian turned. "Meaning?" 

Tuvok only raised an eyebrow. "The stuctual design of the vortex is very unusual. Highly stable. However, I have already sent in a probe, yet the images it sent back were filled with static and radiation. There appears to be an interesting power source in the other end." 

"Perhaps we can use this to our advantage." Commander Chakotay suggested. "If this vortex is highly stable, and may contain energy at the other side, I suggest we go through. We might even find ourselves closer to home." 

"Or even in another universe. I suggest we not go in, Mr. Chakotay." Janeway said, her voice full of command. "Who knows what we might find? This can even be another enterance to Species 4871 domain." 

"Wait a minute, Captain," Ensign Kim said behind his station. "I'm picking up some high blast coming from within the vortex. It might not be so stable after all." He looked up. 

"A blast? How long till it gets here?" Janeway asked, straining her neck over. 

"About 2 minutes." He gazed at her evenly. "We don't think we can escape this one." 

"Well, we can sure try." She said, and ordered, "Mr. Paris, full impulse away from the vortex. B'Elanna, how much time till we can go to warp speed?" 

"I don't know," B'Elanna replied. "I need at least 5 minutes. The energy the vortex took was enough to strain our engrines dramatically." 

"Captain!" Kim said from his station, corcern flooding his voice. "I don't know how, but the blast seems to be aimed directly at us!" He seemed panicked. "It's even following us." 

B'Elanna suddenly said something that wasn't very appropreate for this story, and yelled as the red alarm came on, "I think we just lost starbroad! There's an invisble barrior blocking us from landing on the planet. The vortex seems to be sucking us in!" 

Something rocked the ship hard. "Tom, can you get us out of this system?" Janeway asked over the noise of the people. 

"I don't know, Captian," He said back. "I've tried all my tricks, it's still following us!" 

"10... 9... 8... 7..." Kim counted down at the blast got even bigger and bigger." 

"Maybe I was wrong after all," Chakotay murmured under his breath. Janeway smiled at him. 

"6... 5..." Kim continued. 

"Or else we're just advoiding the fact we don't belong here either." Janeway told him softly. "Maybe this is where we're supposed to belong." 

"4... 3..." 

Chakotay nodded back at her. 

"2..." 

"Open a frequency throughout the ship." Janeway ordered Tuvok. He nodded. 

"All hands..." 

"1..." 

"...BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Janeway finished as Voyager went tumbling into the vortex and to whatever adventure was to lead them. 

*** 

(NOTE: Whoew. Finally here, but lots more to go! Hang in there, people, I'm having a hard time writing this. I almost never wrote this much before! Strange... But this part's Ranma. Sorry, no chi blasts allowed.) 

"RANMA! This is all your fault!" Akane shouted as Ranma-chan hurridly ran out the door. Akane was mad again, and it was all too famailiar. *I didn't do nothin'!* Ranma-chan thought angrily as she raced on the rooftops, jumping from house to house. She pushed back her anger, and thought about what had angered Akane. 

Shampoo had come over, with ramen, but Ranma had been talking with Ukyou. So Shampoo got angry and started picking a fight with Ukyou while Akane just 'happened' to walk by the fields. She accused him of being a hentai(pervert) *again* and got angry. 

Just then Kodachi dropped in on the scene and everything went to hell there. They all got into a fight, and in the process, Akane's dress got torn. 

From then on, he had been chased all the way through the fields and back into school, where he jumped through the window on the third story and fell in the swimming pool- again. 

Ranma-chan suddenly stopped when she realized that she was lost. *Where am I?* she asked herself, looking at the thick forest on all sides. *Whoa, I must be worse than Ryouga! So come so far so fast, though...* Ranma-chan gave herself a secretive smile. But the smile didn't last long, though. She was really lost, and she had no idea what had happened. 

Ryouga was lost again. He had gone through Egypt, China, Los Angeles, Ohio, Paris, and Alaska. Now he was wondering if he were in the rain forest in Brazil or something. But it sure didn't look like it did the last time he came here. That is, until- 

"Rannnnn-mmmmmma," Ryouga growled when he saw Ranma-chan also wondering around. He was about the attack Ranma when she easily lept over his head. He blinked sharply. *No way...* 

"Will you quit with the revenge thing just for once, P-chan?" Ranma-chan asked sharply, annoyed. "I know you must be surprised that I did that so easily, but let it pass. I'm lost, and I need to get back." 

"Why should I help you?" Ryouga growled at the red-headed girl in front of him. 

Ranma-chan frowned. "I never said I needed your help. What I simply asked was that you either come with me, or just leave me be." 

Ryouga frowned, thinking hard. Could Ranma actually help him in this? Probably not, but... Ryouga's train of thought was interupted by Ranma. 

"Well?" Ranma-chan asked. 

"Fine. But don't think this changes anything between us. You hear me?" spat Ryouga. 

Ranma-chan just smirked. "I would never dream of it, P-chan." She turned her back to him. "It's a good workout fighting you." she paused for dramaic effect. "Besides, I like winning." 

Ryouga was about to think better of his deal and pound on Ranma, but the attack was never even lunched. Ranma had already gotten a grip on Ryouga upraised fist. And less than one-tenth of a second later, Ryouga's hand felt itself being twisted. 

"Don't. Ever. Try. That. On. Me." Ranma said darkly. "You understand?" Ranma let go of his hand, and Ryouga was thinking about hitting Ranma again when Ranma continued talking. "I'm having a bad day, and you've attemps on killing me will not improve it." 

Ryouga was reading to explode by now. It wasn't fair! Had Ranma learned some new techneqiue again and he hadn't told him? He couldn't hold it back anymore. "How did you get so fast, damnit?!" 

Ranma-chan stopped, and smirked back at Ryouga. "Let's just saying... it's something I've kept for a long time." 

Suddenly, the bushes behind the two 'frineds' quaked, and behind them appeared Ukyou and Akane. Shampoo was nowhere to be seen, though. 

"We heard everything!" Ukyou blurted out. "Ranma honey, how come you never told anyone how fast and strong you really are?" she asked, her eyes wide and pleading, looking decieved. 

"Ryouga... you wanted revenge on Ranma?" Akane asked softly. "I thought that bread fight between the two of you were over... why do you still want revenge?" 

Both Ranma and Ryouga just stared at the two new arrivals. This was going to be big trouble- for the both of them. 

*** 

(NOTE: This takes place after... something. It's the X-Files, though I doubt any of you don't know this AT ALL. I mean, the famous X-Files, with FBI agents Mulder and Scully? Get real!) 

April 12 6:16 AM Salt Lake City, Utah 

"Mulder, this is an optical illustion!" Scully said. "These people thought they were seeing things. But look at this. 'All seen at night, while gazing at the stars.' It could be a rainbow... or... or a bunch of insects!" 

"You think so, Scully?" Mulder asked, while taking a packet of sunflower seeds from the pack. "But then, since we're already here, why don't we check out the place our- selves?" He flashed her a grin, knowing he already won this arguement, which they had gone over many, many times. 

Scully sighed. All she had wanted to do for the day before she had been called out was to spend the day with her little niece, who wanted to watch Titanic with her. 

"Personally, I think this is what we're looking for." Mulder continued. "Swirling lights in the sky? At morning? And great lights appearing out of nowhere and sometimes ingulfing an object or area, only to find that whatever it had engulfed had not been seen again? How do you explain the disappearance?" 

"Thieves?" Scully reasoned. "People who want to steal small things but are afraid to get caught so they create lights in the sky and try to blind whoever's watching?" 

Mulder gave her a hard look, and smiled. "You know, Scully, that's a bit far out, even for you." 

Scully sighed in defeat. "It could happen." she said plainly as they reached the large streach of farmland on top of the small hill. It seemed fairly normal there. 

"So this is the place?" Scully observed, non-impressed. She stopped. "Well, maybe it might actually be *peaceful* here..." 

"When's it ever peaceful when you're on duty?" Mulder asked, not really putting an effort to put emotion in the words. 

"Never," Scully said. It was a real pain to go on the job whenever it's either a holiday or a day that she had planned something out. 

"Hello." Mulder said to the person sitting on the bench in front of the small farmhouse. He pulled out the FBI badge. "I'm Special Agent Mulder and this is my parnter Special Agent Scully," he put away his badge. "We here to investigate some strange sightings reported around here." 

"Huh? Excuse me?" the girl replied, blinking her eyes. "My name is A-ko. If you're looking for B-ko-" 

(NOTE: No, Project: A-ko is not one of the main stories in this story. But at least it's in here, right? And, why do A-ko speak English? SHE LEARNED.) 

"We're not looking for 'B-ko'." Scully assured her, noticing the girl's tenseness when she said that. "We only wanted to look around. Is that okay with your parents?" 

A-ko stared, but then caught herself. "Um... I'm sure they won't mind... I'm only visiting. But, I'm sure you can do whatever you want to." *As long as you don't work for C-ko,* A-ko didn't add. 

"Thank you." Scully said, then pulled Mulder away. She was later being dragged by Mulder. 

"I'm sure it's around here..." Mulder was saying. Scully only sighed and let Mulder do his work, and reminded him time to time not to get too carried away. 

Neither of them noticed the bright light that had started to appear behind them... 

*** 

(NOTE: Don't worry, I have more... might not be in the first chapter or anything... but I'm sure there'll be more. Right now, it's back to Inu-Yasha, staying with Kagome and Shippo.) 

Kagome looked around in her surroundings. She was very, very fustrated. No demons had attacked her, unlike what Inu- Yasha said, and very much to Kagome's relief, but the Bone Eater's Well wasn't working! 

"What happened?" Shippo asked from beside her. "Is this where you live?" There were massive trees surrounding them, not unlike the trees back in the Feudal Age, but much, much bigger. 

"No," Kagome managed, before sighting three people running in her direction. "Excuse me!" she called out, and those three stopped imediently. There were two strange but cute creatures by their side. 

"What year is this?" she asked, her eyes large. The small boy of the group seemed to facefault at that, but otherwise they weren't really surprised by the question. Or so she thought. 

"It's 1999," the man replied, very puzzled. (NOTE: Okay, so maybe the show says 1996, but last I checked, it was February 1999!) "Why do you ask?" 

Kagome blinked. (NOTE: Okay, so Inu-Yasha was in 1996 also. But as I said, it's 1999 right now.) "So it's the same time?" she asked quietly. "What country am I on?" 

"You're on Japan," the girl supplied helpfully. She gave Kagome a smile. "I'm Misty." she pointed to the tanned man. "This is Brock." Then she pointed to the boy. "And this is the very-annoying-wannbe-Pokemon-Master Ash Ketchum." 

"Hey!" The boy, Ash, protested at this. "Who are you to talk?!" 

Misty ignored him. "And these two are Pikachu and Vulpix." she pointed to the two creatures besides them. 

Kagome could see all three of them staring strangely at Shippo, and she didn't blame them. They shouldn't have seen any demons before. 

Kagome smiled. "I'm Kagome, and this is Shippo here." Shippo's tail twitched at that. "Well, actually, where am I?" 

"I don't know," Misty said. "We were running from a gaint meter or something and- hey, were is that meter, anyway?" Misty looked around the sky. 

"Now that you mention it," Ash put in. "There's no meter around here at all!" 

As they were talking, they saw two other people walk towards them. They were both oddly dressed, but then, Kagome was dressed in her uniform. 

(NOTE: As you can see, I have no patience at all and want to end this chapter as quickly as poissible, thus throwing every- one in the pit and let them meet at the same time. And everyone understands each other here. Why? IT'S MAGIC. Don't ask.) 

"Hello there!" she called out, everyone else watching her. "Can you please tell us where we are?" 

The two stopped, and seemed to stare at them. "You too?" the man asked, shaking his head. 

"Huh?" Ash said. "You mean, you guys are lost too?" 

"No, well, yes." The woman said. "We seemed to be on Corscant one sudden, and then here the next. And we don't know where 'here' is." 

Kagome blinked in confusion. *Ok-ay...* she thought to herself. *This is getting stranger by the second... maybe I should get back into the well.* 

"Hey!" Kagome cried a few moments later. "The Well's gone!" 

"What well?" Misty asked. Where the magic Bone Eater's Well had been, was just a bunch of large mosses that covered a somewhat secretive area. There was no sign that there had been anything there at all before. But Kagome had traveled through the Well! So it couldn't be far... 

"Something." Kagome replied blankly, not really wanting to give away her secret just yet. "I had my things in it." It wasn't a lie, because she *did* have her things in the well, as she now remembered. It was back in the Feudal Age. 

She stepped into the moss the begin her search only to realize that she hadn't taken a step at all. *What...!* Kagome looked down. She *had* taken a step! Only, the moss was now further and further away. She took another step towards the moss, but again it edged away. 

"Wait!" The man cried, and held her back from taking the third step. Kagome looked up from her view of the ground. "What?" she snapped, and the man pointed in front of her. 

There was a huge tree covering her view ahead, and she suddenly realized that if she had taken that step, she would have looked like a fool in front of all the others. Like she did now. 

"Er, thanks," she said quietly, turning pink from embaressment. She did not like to be the fool. Being the weak one around Inu-Yasha was enough for her, but she did not want everyone to see her as a fool, too. 

"No problem." the man replied. He had returned the the woman's side. "By the way, my name's Luke Skywalker, and this is Mara Jade." he introduced. 

"My name's Kagome." she said hesitently. "And this is Shippo." Suddenly remembering about Shippo, she whirled around, to find Shippo chasing after the moss. 

"Shippo!" she called, beckoning for him to go back. "Shippo, come HERE! Quit chasing that stupid moss!" 

Shippo, who had suddenly managed to step in the moss, quickly ran back to Kagome. He was looking through wide eyes. 

"Shippo. Don't ever run off like that again, okay?" Kagome said strickly. 

Shippo quickly nodded, staying silent. 

"He's so cuuute!" Misty suddnely pipped up. She turned to look at Kagome. "Can I hug him?" There was a smile on the corner of her lips. 

"Urr..." Kagome said, not knowing what to do between Shippo's strange behavior and the strange situation. She sighed and nodded for Misty to give Shippo a hug. What a weird day. 

*** 

(NOTE: I'm spoiling you here if you want to read this. Remember Shippo's behavior? Okay, has anyone ever read Ella Enchanted? I thought not. Oh well, you'll see as the story goes on...) 

Cassie stood on the branch, carefully balencing the viris granade in her hand. She and everyone else were in the Truth Circle... with Visser Three in front of them. 

They were actually in some kind of hologram, which was very real. But if something went wrong, then they could look like they just disappeared. But other than that, this was very, very real. 

"Ready?" the static of a voice came over the speaker implanted in her ear for a while. "Yeah," she replied, her voice suddenly dry. A feeling of dread washed over her, at the worst possible moment. 

ordered Visser Three through thought speach. 

Suddenly, a whitish-blue glow opened from the air itself. Cassie, having seen many strange things in her life, was facinated by the beauty of this. She drew in her breath sharply. 

"Now!" came a voice clear to her ear. One by one, each tree were hurling blunt objects in the air, and having them land on the portal. 

Visser Three's voice, or what you would call a voice, came, enraged. But everyone had already jumped from the trees and were pushing their way through the blind attack, pretending that they were also Controllers. 

Cassie was a little led up on how easy this seemed. Usually, all their missions were situations based on life and death. This one was too, but *their* lives didn't seem to be in danger. 

Just as she was thinking that, she felt a hand grab the back of her shirt. Struggling, she was about to scream when a hand was placed over her mouth. "It's me!" A voice hissed, as her struggling came to an end. "Don't scream! If you do, everyone'll hear you!" 

Cassie relaxed when she figured out the person was Jake, and turned a bit red. That was totally embarissing! 

But as Jake led Cassie to the middle, she felt better knowing that she wasn't going in alone. But his shove came unexpected. 

"Go!" Jake silently told Cassie as Rachel and Tobias jumped in. "Marco, Ax, and I will take care of the rest!" 

Cassie nodded intently- took a deep breath, and jumped in. 

*** 

Voyager was plundered through the rage of an unstable portal, yet she still survived. 

"Statis?" Janeway called once she was back in her chair again. There was a pause as everyone caught their breath. 

"Decks 7-9 are all off line." Tuvok reported. "But mostly-" he looked at her curiously, "There were no casualties. Nor any other damage to the ship." 

"Engines are back." B'Elanna said from her station. "I don't know what just happened, but our engines are all back to normal, and there's even extra power in the systems." she sounded awed. 

"There's an M-class planet up ahead of us." Kim reported. (NOTE: No, I don't know what that means! Ask someone with experiance, will you?) "Directly ahead." 

"On screen." Janeway ordered. 

There, was a slightly glowing planet, with a thin ring surrounding it. The turmil on the planet seemed endless, for there were swirls of clouds and mist at top speed, visible to the ship. 

"Harry, can you get a lock on where we are right now?" Janeway asked, still slightly awed at the beauty of the planet. 

Harry went over the optical station. "I don't know, Captain. It seems as if something's jamming our sensers." 

"Well, get them online as soon as possible. We need to know where we are, and how to get home." Janeway snapped. 

"Aye aye, Captian." Harry said, imitating Tom's usual sense of humor. 

*** 

"Hey, make room, guys!" Miigie whispered to You-chan and Lass, all the while pushing her way between them to see through the branches of the thick Omma-tree. 

"Cut out the scratching!" Lass complained, trying to get comfortable on the tree. "We really should have gotten to a bigger tree, though. Why must we stay on the Omma-tree, anyway?" 

"Don't you know?" You-chan hissed through her teeth, never taking her eyes off the newcomers that were below them. "This Omma-tree is the only tree in the forest that can hide a person's life signature. What if those people are the ones trying the destroy Orions'Ka?" 

Lass shut her mouth at that. After she had found out that she was blood Princess to Orions'Ka, she had grown protective over the planet. Though she was not old enough to communicate directly with Orions'Ka, she knew that Orions'Ka would not do anything that would harm itself. 

"If these are the people to destroy Orions'Ka, why didn't Orions'Ka just zap 'em dead before they even got here?" Lass asked. 

"Good point," Miigie murmured, and then shifted her weight to one side. This caused the entire branch the wobble, and Lass to be thrown out. 

"YAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Lass shrieked as she fell from the large tree. She landed softly on a large patch of moss, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. 

On the tree, You-chan gave Miigie a whap on the head. "I told you not to eat so much! You're fat!" Miigie's eyes narrowed at that 'comment' and she directly attacked You-chan. 

"I AM NOT!" Miigie shouted. "TAKE THAT BACK!" she gave You-chan a hard fist, and You-chan lost her grip on the tree, too. 

"You STUPID!" You-chan yelled, landing on the same moss that Lass had landed on. "What did you think you were DOING?!" 

By this time, the newcomers had discovered the girls, and also thought that they were hurt. 

"Oh, man!" Lass whined. "Why can't anything we do come out right?!" 

"That's because of Miigie being so fat," You-chan murmured. On top of her, she heard Miigie shout back angrily, "I am *not* fat!" You-chan rubbed her head, a bit too hard, and felt herself wince in the process. 

"Who're *you*?" Said the girl with a little kid, or what someone would consider a kid, on her shoulder. 

"I would ask the same question!" Lass interupped, annoyed that they had not asked the right person that. *She* was the Princess of Orions'Ka, and it was her resonsibilities to find out anything suspisious that was going on, especially if it were on Orions'Ka itself. 

"Yeah, what're *you* doing on Orions'Ka?" You-chan asked strictly, or as strict as she could sound when she doesn't really mean it. 

"Orions'Ka?" Misty asked. "The Omega Jewel planet?" She had stars in her eyes, as she seemed to dance around in the air where she was. 

"Yeah." Lass said, eyeing Misty strangely. "What of it?" 

"What are we doing on Orions'Ka?" Brock asked himself, hand to his chin as if thinking real hard. He was usually one of the smart ones, anyway. 

"You mean... you don't know?" Lass asked while You-chan looked on. "Then you aren't after the Jewel?" 

"I'm after a different Jewel, don't worry." Kagome said confidently. "The Shikon no Tama." She hadn't moved an inch from where she was. 

"The Jewel of Four Souls." You-chan said. "Created by the spirits of the four different powers. Said to have the power of both good and evil by whoever controls it. Created by the great Priestess Miko." she smiled. 

(NOTE: Okay, so I read ahead of what's in America right now! Anyone can get the translations if they look. ;P) 

"Huh?" Kagome didn't know what to say. Even she had not known that much about the Shikon no Tama. 

"Actually," You-chan continued. "Miko had a blood tranfer with Princess L'cos in order to protect the jewel. I read about that story in the ancient spell story." she frowned. "A blood tranfer with the Princess gave her mythical powers. Not to mention the power to *pass* that power on." 

"I knew you found that stupid book. Never knew you were reading it, though..." Lass muttered under her breath. 

"Excuse us, we haven't a single clue what you are talking about." Mara cut in. "The Shikon no Tama? Miko? Princess L'cos?" 

"I think... we'll explain later..." Kagome said quietly, her head spinning a bit at all the new information. It felt like the first time she had stepped into the Bone Eater's Well, and went back in time. She was so confused! 

*** 

April 12 6:45 AM Somewhere on Orions'Ka 

"Mulder, we've been cutting through bushes for almost an hour! We were out on an open field. So how did we get in the middle of a *forest*?" 

Mulder didn't respond to that one. Somehow, *somehow*, he knew where they were. He couldn't figure out how, or why, but he just knew. And he also knew this was the right place to be, but to be on guard. The place was safe, but there were intruders. 

"Have you noticed that the sky is kind of goldish?" Mulder asked, making sure that Scully was not right and that he was not insane. There were trees and branches everywhere, but whenever he could see the sky, it looked like there was some golden light in the distense, as if the sun were a lot closer than he thought. 

"I thought I was crazy," Scully muttered under her breath as she took another glance at the sky. It *was* kind of goldish, except for the fact that she could barely see it. 

"Hey." Mulder said suddenly, his hand in the air, beckoning for silence. "Did you hear that?" 

"Had to be a bird," Scully said. They had not heard a single soul for too long. Way too long. No crickets, no birds, and no monsters coming out from the depht of the forest to get them. 

There was a rustle in the bushes and that was all the warning they got. Out popped a young girl with flaiming red hair done in a pigtail and another girl with real short bluish hair behind her. After that was a boy with a yellow and black bandana, and last of all a girl with a white bow in her hair. 

"Who're YOU?" They all asked in the same time, including Mulder and Scully. There was a silence among the two groups for several seconds, only to be broken once the clammer started up. 

(NOTE: A magical planet like Orions'Ka. Of course everyone speaks the same language there. It's magic.) 

"This is getting really strange," Ukyou was saying the same time Ranma said, "What the heck just happened?!" 

While Scully was telling herself that she was back into a sticky situation where she and Mulder were once again lost and maybe in danger. 

And Akane was thinking of splitting Ranma's head open for getting her and Ryouga and even Ukyou and himself lost. 

And Ryouga was wondering how Ranma could have a sense of direction worse than his. And Mulder was trying to figure out where he was. 

Even though most of everything was thoughts, those thoughts weren't private and were REALLY loud, resulting into a screaming stampede of thoughts around them. No one had really known Orions' Ka, or they wouldn't have thought that loud. The forests of Orions'Ka was always at the top in magic. 

"Okay!" Ranma screamed at the top of her lungs. "I think that we should stop the noise, and introduce ourselves." She turned towards Mulder and Scully. "My friends and I are lost. You wouldn't happen to know the way to Nermia, would you?" 

Mulder and Scully both shook their heads. "We're lost too. Is this place somewhere in Utah?" 

"Never heard of it." Ranma admitted. "My name's Ranma. This is Akane, Ryouga, and Ukyou. Maybe we can help each other out a bit. Since we're both lost." 

Akane didn't like the sound of that. Everyone she and Ranma knew, were either out to kill one of them and marry the other, or kill both of them. It was very rare that they made any new trust- worthy friends. So rare, in fact, they hadn't made any. 

Scully intoduced them, for once, and explained their weird situation. They found out soon after that Ranma and Co's situation was just as weird. 

"So it's truce until we find our way back to where we're supposed to be, right?" Ryoga asked, making sure he wasn't going to have to owe anyone anything for getting him out of this. 

"Whatever," Ranma murmured as she followed the two adults to where seemed deeper in the forest. 

*** 

"Don't you think this is a bit big of an away mission?" Harry asked Tom quietly as he entered the transporter room. There were 13 people going on the away mission, set up right after everyone discovered that the planet could support life and that there was a massive amount of energy on the planet that could be gathered. 

Tom shrugged smuggly, with a cocky pilot grin on his face. "Captain's the Captian. Let her judge. Remeber the time where almost half the crew went on the away mission? Besides, she rarely gets anything here wrong, anyway." 

As if on cue, Captain Janeway appeared in the room just as Tom had finished talking. She walked in with Commander Chakotay and Lt. Tuvak. For a second, the tension in the room went up ten degrees. But then, everything seemed normal again. 

"Escorting the Captain down, huh Chakotay?" Tom said with a REALLY smug grin as he matched pace with the Commander. Chakotay frowned. "This is an away mission, Lieutenant. I expect that you would stop your jokes and act like an officer." 

They both stepped on the transporter pad as Tom said, "You still hadn't answered my question." 

Chakotay's frown grew deeper, if that was possible. "I don't know what you're talking about," he murmured as he watched the Captain step on the pad herself, gingerly followed by the Chief of Sercurity. 

What he didn't know was that Tom's eyes followed his and that he saw everything Chakotay saw. Not to mention the fact that Tom's grin had just grown wider. Out of the thirteen people, five were senior officers. And that one of those five was a completely hopeless romantic. 

"We'll finish this conversation on the planet." Tom assured Chakotay as everyone arrived. He knew that this wasn't cheering Chakotay up any better, and he liked to keep it that way, as far as he was concerned. 

"Energize." Janeway said, a bit rough. The entire team of thirteen people disappeared from the ship as they traveled to the planet within a few seconds. (What technology! Too bad this isn't in the 20th Century...) 

(NOTE: I wanted to take Kes, or Seven of Nine, but then I realized that I didn't really know what time this took place on. Whether Kes was already 'dead' by this story, or Seven of Nine wasn't even here yet. So I'm not including either of them. I'm very sorry if you loved those charactors. I loved 'em both. *sniff*) 

They arrived in a lush, and very deep, forest with no sounds of life whatsoever. The sky was a rich gold, and starlines could be seen from where they were. Taking out a tricorder, Harry began scanning the area for the power source that they had discovered, and maybe something to get them home. He wondered away from the rest of the group, careful to remember where he was going. 

After a few minutes as everyone went to work searching the area, a new sound of a shrill scream caught Harry's attention. 

Out of thin air, supposidly, came five girls dressed in tight uniforms of some kind, each with strange headbands and tons of jewelery and makeup. They were dressed in skirts that were way too short for them, and each seemed to be color coded. 

The five girls tumbled onto the ground as the Harry stood in shock. From behind them all came a large roar, and a dark, mysterious lady who was cladded in a long, tight fitting black dressed and had GREEN hair. 

Harry checked his eyes. Yup, green hair. Not to mention a dark colored jewel on the top of her forehead. This *certainly* didn't happen every day. In front of the lady were two cats, seemingly, and Harry didn't blame them, running for their lives. On the forehead of the two cats, one black and one white, were moon shaped marks. 

"Hurry!" one of the cats, ***CATS***, cried. The five girls were already on their feet and in impressive positions. 

"I'll take care of this one," the one in red said. She put her hands together tightly and concentrated hard for a moment. "Mars Soul... FIRE!" she cried and was bathed in a wash of fire that exploded from her fingertips. 

But even as the sting of fire was about to hit the mysterious lady, she blacked with her own ice. Harry was certainly amazed at what he was seeing, but didn't understand it at all. He pointed his tricorder at the group quietly while knealing down, and started taking readings. 

The one in red, Mars, suddenly dropped to one knee. The others advanced in for her. 

"The energy level here is weak! We have to save our powers. Our planets are out of reach." Said the one in blue, Mercury. 

(NOTE: I don't want to keep on with the 'one in red, the one in blue' and this and that. So I'll just get on with the names.) 

Either Sailor Moon hadn't heard her, or just ignored her, she stopped in front of Sailor Mars. "For hurting a Sailor Scout is unthinkable! For Sailor Mars, and in the name of the moon, I, Sailor Moon, the defender of love and justice, shall punish you!" 

*Pretty girls, lame lines,* thought Harry grimly. He seemed to be safe from the fact that no one even looked his direction in the bushes. 

At that moment, Ranma & Co. plus Mulder and Scully decided to drop in. And that would be the worst moment possible. 

"Yow! Watch it!" Ranma yelled as he dodged the monster's attack that hadn't been for her. 

"Huh?" Scully questioned, having never seen anything this... strange on Earth. At least she thought she was on Earth. 

Seeing Ranma and everyone else seemed to have made every- one see the Harry, too. Because the Inner Senshi all turned the his direction. 

"Hey, there's a *guy* here!" 

"I bet he was spying on us!" 

"What if he saw us tranform?!" 

"Pervert!" 

"Let's get him!" 

Forchenately for Harry, the girls could barely take two steps when the monster lady charged in on them. Lucky for the girls, the monster couldn't take two steps until Ranma charged the monster. And lucky for Ranma, Ukyou, Ryouga, and Akane were there to back him up. 

Unforchantely for Mulder and Scully, they had no clue what was going on and could only look on as everything started. 

With Ranma and Ryouga chi blasting the monster, it looked like they were winning. In the beginning, that is. 

But then, the monster managed to grab Sailor Mars, who was pretty weak after the attack, and threw her in front of itself as a shield. This stopped the attacks from Ranma and Ryouga. 

Confused, Harry used to tricorder to get a quick scan of all the attacks and had a surprise of his life. Those weren't the energy that he had detected on the ship But these energy came from different orgins. 

Including a person's life spirit, somehow, manifested so that it could be a weapon. And the fire attack came from somewhere... really, really far. It looked like there was a direct link to the red Sailor Scout and something deep in space. 

And the attack the monster gave... a dark, cold illusion. Something that had come out of nothing at all. 

As quick as it startled, the fight ended. At least for Ranma, Akane, Ukyou, Ryouga, Mulder, Scully, and Harry, anyway. The fight was still going on, alright. But it wasn't on Orions'Ka anymore. The Sailor Senshi had all been teleported to whatever dimension that they had come from. 

Harry blinked in surprise. Five girls just disappearing in thin air! He may have seen things that were more strange than just that, but he had never seen it close up before. 

"Who are you?" Ranma asked, startling Harry from how Ranma had gone to him without being noticed. 

"Ensign Harry Kim from the USS Starship Voyager." he managed to say, before the entire away mission found all of them and had their weapons trained on everyone except Harry. 

To Harry, he didn't like this at all. He had just seen what the two teenagers in front of him could do, and he didn't like it. What if they could use the spirit-weapon and kill everyone some- how? 

"Wait!" he cried, surprising everyone, including himself. "I don't think that they mean any harm!" 

"Oh? How so?" Janeway asked, having arrived at the scene just in time. She had her arms crossed tightly in front of her, and looked like she wanted every detail in his explaination. 

Harry sighed mentally. The things he had to do... 

*** 

(NOTE: One more charactor...) 

Miigie was fighting with You-chan. But the unusal thing was that Lass didn't seem to join in at the exact moment when they got too loud. 

And the reason for that was that Lass was talking to Misty about which Pokemon were the cutest. With Ash arguing about how his Pokemon were the best and how Pikachu was the best of the best. And with Pikachu having a huge sweatdrop on it's forehead. 

Brock was talking with Luke and Mara, amazed at their in- sight. When he had traveled with Ash and Misty, all they ever did was argue and he had to be the smartest for them all. But now he finally had time to be the student for once. 

And Kagome wasn't able to join any of the conversation, having the old arguement with Inu-Yasha rise in her mind every time she saw Miigie and You-chan arguing, or Misty and Ash were arguing. She actually missed the arguements and felt a little left out. Not to mention, Shippo hadn't said a thing since she last told him to be quiet. 

"Shippo, you think anyone actually misses us in either worlds? The modern time or the Fuedal Ages?" she had Shippo on her shoulder, but he did not reply. He only watched her with coulful eyes. 

She stopped. "Shippo, can you answer me?" 

Shippo shook his head. 

Kagome sighed. Whatever it is, Shippo mustn't have felt like talking. And he didn't seem as active as he usually was, either. It was really starting to bug her. 

She wanted to go home. Even if 'home' was back in the Fuedal Times. To either feel the familiar heat instead of this perfect warm, to feel that cold drift in the middle of a very hot day- 

"Wait!" Kagome called loudly, startling everybody. She remembered this feeling. Something evil... 

"You forgot your bag." came a voice. 

Slowly, slowly, Kagome turned around as her temper rose. "Stupid! So you really wanted me out, didn't you?! You would even come all this way to give me back my bag-!" she stopped when she realized what she was saying. 

"You mean, you came all this way to give me back my bag? *How* did you get here?" Kagome asked a startled Inu-Yasha. 

"I went through the well, what did you think!" 

"And where is this well you're talking about?" Mara asked, forcing her way into the conversation. Her arms were crossed in front of her, while she tapped her foot impatiently in front of her. 

"It's right over-" Inu-Yasha was gesturing behind him, but there was no well as far as anyone looked. The expresstion on his face was priceless if the situation hadn't been so dire. 

"I guess you're stuck with us, dog-boy." Kgome said lamely. She had thought that it had sounded too good to be true, and she guessed that she was right. But at least she had her stuff, right? 

"Just one question," You-chan pipped. She wondered into sight as Lass and Miigie both frantically tried to stop the embarissment that they knew she was going to cause. But they failed for You-chan had somehow managed to slip out of their grasp and charged where people could see her again. "Are those ears real?" 

Inu-Yasha eyes turned a murderious golden color as Kagome developed a huge sweatdrop on her forehead, not knowing whether to laugh or to kill. 

Now *that* was deja vu! 

To be continued..... 

  


HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!! (Oh wait, how'd Kodachi get in here? *yells* Somebody's going to have to answer for this! I haven't even done my Mad Scribbles yet and the charactors want more parts of the story?! OUT! Out, now! All of you! *fumes* This doesn't satisfy you? At all?! Fine! Be that way! See if I care! *stomps away, fuming and yelling death threats at everyone unlucky enough to be in her way*) 

  


Author's mad scribbles: 

Before the scribbles, I should say its weird when I notice, but I've got a bit of all three personalities from the iinazukes of Ranma. Sorry, iinazuke means fiancee. I mean, Ukyou for how I could be mistaken for a boy easily and my personality. Shampoo for my long hair and the strange Chinese style. And most of all Akane... I don't knew where I get her from. But I've got the same boy-hating instints as her, the tomboy style =), and the infamous temper of hers. Overall, I would just LOVE a mallet like hers for my birthday... *sigh* 

But of course, my friends would make sure I never get that mallet because 'Gods know what would happen if you get your hands on a mallet. Having to work with you when you have a knife in your hand is scary enough!' Well, that's the quote. And the knife? Long story. We had to cut some cardboard that time. =) 

I think that you've heard from enough throughout the story, but this is the very longest story I had ever written... it took me about one and a half months, counting the days when I couldn't work on the story because of my homework. Just for this chapter! Eeeeeeeeeek!!! *tears at hair* So please correct me in any place I did something wrong. I just read it though, and this is my first time. =) 

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Carrie, and Patern, and Anicat. And anyone else who actually thought that Orions'Ka was a great idea. Oh yeah, I can't forget Michelle, who helped me come up with a name like this + the system of Rumel and... um... I kind of forgot my system. Anyway... You go, peeps! ;) 

Few more things. Don't expect another chapter for a while, cause I only got time to write on this because of Winter Vacation, and how bored(Yes, guys, I know it's a dead word, but I'm not in Language Arts class right now so you don't get a tootsy roll! BWA- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!) I was at the time. But now... I have way too much stuff(another dead word) to do and I barely have any time for my stories anymore. *sob* I'm going to fail my Science experiment! And if I do that, I'll have to repeat 7th grade! *sob* 

*BEEP* 

*CLICK* 

Please insert Chapter 2 if you wish to continue reading. 

Happy reading! 

Ja matta! ^-^ 


	2. Orions'Ka, chapter 2

sitafire@hotmail.com  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"In the arms of the angel   
Far away from here   
From this dark, cold hotel room,   
And the endlessness that you feel   
You are pulled from the wreckage   
Of your silent reverie   
You're in the arms of the angel   
May you find some comfort here."  
-"Angel" by Sarah McLachlan   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
NOTE: Yes, I'll always have this up here. Just telling you  
how proud I am to have Chapter 2 out, and ready to go. *sigh*  
Usually, I'd loose interest before I'm even done with Chapter  
1. I really do. This is a great accomplishment for me. *sniff*  
  
ORIONS'KA  
  
Chapter 2  
by: Shamera  
  
Cassie landed flat on her back, and considering that she  
had just fallen into another universe, it wasn't at all unusal   
for there to be pain.  
  
But the unusal thing was that she landed in a forest. A  
forest of tall, redwood trees and a dark, golden sky.  
  
"Is everyone okay?" she heard Jake ask shakily. But she   
didn't answer. Something was keeping her from answering, but  
she didn't care either. She needed to find it...  
  
"Cassie? Can you hear me?" Rachel asked, concern flooding  
her usually cool and in-control voice.  
  
Humans. What an annoyance. But they could be of some   
use... "Yeah. I'm fine. I guess I just got shocked a bit. After  
all, we made it!" she pasted a relieved and shakey grin on her  
face to convice the people who weren't convinced by her voice.  
  
"Whatever you say," Marco replied. "This place gives me  
the creeps. I can't wait to finish whatever we're here to   
finish, and get home. I think I'm already missing school."  
  
Everyone gave a nervous laugh, and got up. They made it,  
didn't they? Now it was time for the hard part.  
  
But Cassie didn't care. She wasn't in control anymore,   
that was for certain. But she knew she didn't have a Yeerk   
in her head. All she had to do was find the Jewel. Then she   
would finally have a permenant stay on life! Not to mention  
all the power. She could have the entire universe and beyond  
at her fingertips.   
  
"Cassie? Are you alright? You seem pretty, for the human  
term, 'spaced out'." Ax said. He was the only one to notice   
that something was wrong with her.  
  
"Hey, no worry." she replied evenly. "It's a human thing  
to be really shocked with you fall in another universe. It's  
not as common with the human race as it might be with the   
Andalites."   
  
Now Ax was really worried. Cassie wasn't the kind to   
joke around with a situation as dangerous as this. Usually,  
it was only Marco. Maybe she finally snapped.  
  
"I overheard the entire conversation and..." Marco was  
behind the two of them all of a sudden, "I just wanted to   
welcome Cassie to the real world. You were the only sane one  
for a long time, Cassie. I was wondering if you were human   
'cause of how sane you were dispite all the completely wacko,  
dangerous, and outragous missions we had to do."  
  
Cassie rolled her eyes. "Get a life, Marco."  
  
They both laughed at that, leaving a VERY confused Ax  
to wonder if he had lost his friends to the Yeerks already.  
  
And Ax wasn't the only one who was worried. Rachel and  
Tobias were chatting away, trying to forget how much trouble  
they were really in at the moment. If they didn't make this...  
well, then the entire universe didn't make this. Tobias was  
a hawk at the moment, though. Since his two hours had already  
been up.  
  
Jake looked back towards his friends and sighed. How   
much had actually changed since they became the Animorphs? He  
would say, A LOT. He dropped behind a little to hear Cassie's   
conversation with Marco.   
  
"This is totally weird." Cassie said, frowning towards  
the big oak tree about a few meters from them. "I mean, I   
didn't know they had oak trees in another universe."  
  
"This is weird? An oak tree? So you don't that fighting  
aliens from outer space who wants to put slugs in your head   
and talking to a talking bird is weird? How about the fact   
that we're walking with an alien right now?" Marco said.  
  
Ax frowned. "I think I will ignore that one."  
  
"Okay, so you got a point. Big deal." Cassie said. As   
Jake had once said about the difference of Cassie and Marco   
was that Cassie was always nice enough not to insult some-  
one, while Marco just has his mouth run away. But now, there  
wasn't much of a difference.   
  
Something was definately wrong with Cassie, thought Ax.  
  
***  
  
"You're saying that you're humans?" Tom still couldn't   
get the ironic idea out of his mind.  
  
"Of course we're humans!" Ranma screamed back. How many  
times did she have to explain that?! "What makes you think we  
were demons or something like that?!"  
  
"I never said anything about demons." Tom replied coolly.  
There were no humans in the Delta Quadrent! But then, they   
weren't in the Delta Quadrent, were they? The portal must have   
transported them to the Alpha Quadrent or another dimension. Or   
so he thought...  
  
After Harry had explained everything about the strange   
girls and the people in front of them. Or all that he knew,   
which wasn't very much.   
  
"I'm starting to get a headache...." Ukyou admitted,   
rubbing her temples. Those people had been interviewing them   
for over an hour, and nothing they said got through to them!  
  
Akane seemed to agree. "I suppose the madness that   
follows all of us everywhere seems to have settled here." she   
sighed. If only their lives were all normal! Then maybe Ryouga   
a bit happier than the gluminess that he always looked, and   
Ukyou already married to a wonderful man. Not to mention the   
additions, Shampoo married to Mousse, Cologne not bugging them,   
Happosai gone, Kodachi disappears, Kuno was never born, and...   
but if all the madness were to stop, she and Ranma would never   
have met. Ranma was most likely the center of all the madness   
that they recieved.  
  
"I think that we should really get out of here and back   
home if you ask me." Ukyou said. "I mean, how will Nermia last   
without us? The ones who normally bring the excitment to them?"  
  
"I was thinking just the same thing." Akane said with a   
smile. She and Ukyou may be rivels for Ranma's heart, but they   
were also friends. Ukyou was too nice for anyone to hate her.  
  
Meanwhile.... Ryouga got lost again....  
  
***  
  
"We keep walking... and walking... and walking..." Miigie  
kept droning on on how she hated walking so much and how her  
legs hurt and how she never had to do this when her sister was  
there. Of course, the conversation stopped at the mention of her  
sister.   
  
All three Protectors had lost someone they loved before   
finding out just how special they were and had to leave the   
people that they had lived with all their lives.   
  
Misty, noticing how the three new and loudest people all   
silent, knew something was wrong imediently. After all, nothing  
seemed to shut them up at first, and they were getting really   
annoying.   
  
"Hey," she said to them cheerfully, taking a painful note  
on how Kagome and Inu-Yasha seemed to be getting up pretty well-  
FIGHTING, that is. "Are you guys okay?"  
  
"I miss Maalia," Miigie whined. "I don't wanna be the only  
twin of Illusion on this planet. Maalia's the one who's older.  
She should be the one taking over, not me."  
  
"You stupid!" You-chan said, smacking Miigie over the head.  
"You keep complainin' and bringing old memories and you'll be   
joining her soon!" You-chan was grouchy. She always was whenever  
she was reminded of what happened to everyone she ever knew.  
  
Misty didn't know what was happening but was sure that   
everything was all right again when she noticed how You-chan and  
Miigie were arguing again and how Lass was trying to pull them   
out of it. She continued of her own way, wondering about if she  
had her own set of problems.  
  
"I still don't think so! My Pikachu could beat anything,   
right Pikachu?" she heard a voice say confidently and sighed.   
Yup, she had her own set of problems, all right. And a very   
awful set they were. At least Pikachu was nice, and cute.  
  
She wondered when they were going to stop for a break.   
It looked like it was going to be nighttime soon, but that was  
what it had looked like when they arrived. Like the sun was   
going to set really soon, yet it never moved at all. And she   
was starting to get really tired. After a while, she just   
stopped paying attention and heard drifts of words floating by.  
  
"....never get to go home at this rate...."  
  
"....can''t believe people like that....!"  
  
"....they be chosen....?"  
  
"....think there's more....?"  
  
At that point, however highly unusual, Misty fell asleep,  
still walking on and on.  
  
***  
  
(NOTE: *rubs hands together* Whoever told you I was done with   
adding new charactors? This is a crossover! Annnnnnd..... never  
mind. Stargate SG-1 takes place somewhere in the middle of the   
second season. I can't decide where. You'll have to read to find  
out. One more thing... Daniel... cute, cute, cute!=) )  
  
Doctor Daniel Jackson looked around the new surrondings   
with renewed interest. God, the symbols! There must have been   
thousands! His hands were shaking from excitment on how he could  
spend years just trying to figure out this new, complicated   
language. It was unlike any that he had ever found. Instead of  
symbols or pictures for words, the entire wall was covered by   
lines and dots, a bit like morse code. He still remembered the  
symbols that he had found while trapped on the planet of the   
Four Races. With elements at their unique and basic language, it  
would take several lifetimes to figure those out. And these...?  
  
Daniel looked a bit closer as he readjusted his glasses.   
The language here seemed similar to the elements... except that  
these were a lot smaller than basic atoms. These looked more like...  
  
"This isn't a field trip, Daniel." Colonel Jack O'Neill said  
from behind Daniel. The surprised young man gave a yelp as the   
Colonel moved besides him to get a clear view of the symbols.   
  
"Jack!" Daniel yelled. "Don't do that!"  
  
"Don't do what?" Jack tried to hide a smile, but failed   
miserably.   
  
"Don't sneak up on me like that!"  
  
"I didn't sneak up to you. You were just too into your   
culture stuff that you didn't notice me. You wouldn't have   
noticed a group of Jaffa that comes shooting at you like that,   
either."  
  
"That's not true!" Daniel protested.  
  
"I would have to disagree with you on that, Daniel   
Jackson." Teal'c said, also coming up from behind them.   
"You were concentrating too hard."   
  
Daniel looked up to see if Teal'c was joking, and sighed   
when he realized that he wasn't. "Okay. So there's a new language.  
I don't go that crazy over it."  
  
"Yes, you do." Sam pipped up from where she was,   
adjusting the floppy hat that was so similar to Daniel's.  
  
"Sam! You're supposed to be on my side!" Daniel whined.  
He felt like throwing a tantrums. Screw the fact that he was an   
adult. He gave Carter a glare that said he wasn't too happy.  
  
Sam laughed at him as Jack had to pull him into camp.   
"Really, Daniel, I would agree with you on whatever, but on this,  
I think the Colonel hit on mark." she grinned. "You do know I'm   
kidding around, don't you?"  
  
Daniel grinned back to show her that he knew. "You   
military types- you always stick together. You too, Captain Doctor."  
  
"That's Captain Carter to you, Dr. Jackson." Sam said with  
a smile. That was SG-1 in a nutshell, all right. One naive lingist,   
one brave soldier, one soldier/scientist, and one warrior. Any   
elaberation would be one alien, one girl, one leader, and one   
diplomatic.  
  
What a strange team.  
  
"This really doesn't account to what we're looking for,"   
O'Neill said with a frown. He was talking about the landscape. It   
was pretty, actually, even though it was a lot more different than   
Earth's. For example, this place never went into night. Actually, it   
did. Or more likely, half of the planet did. This planet never revolved   
around the sun, but stayed firmly as it was.   
  
"It could be that the landscape is just a bit strange. Nothing  
else seems different from Earth. Except that there aren't many...   
well... plant life." Carter winced as she batted another branch away.   
  
"Been there, don't that." Jack supplied. He sighed as his team   
moved for an automatic setting of camp. At least, that was what he   
called it. But then, there were still a few hours left for them all   
to be able to explore. "Geez, I hate jungles."  
  
"This is not a jungle." Teal'c pointed out as he broke a tree  
branch with a frown. "Although P9J-"  
  
"Orions'Ka!" Daniel supplied helpfully from behind both Teal'c   
and Jack.  
  
Teal'c gave a amused look. "Indeed. Although Orions'Ka would   
account as lush forest."  
  
"Oh, whatever." Jack grumbled. "It's humid. So it's a jungle."  
  
"That would be a rain forest, sir." Carter said.  
  
Jack made a face, not caring that he was in the front and no   
one could see his displeasure. His team were all against him. The   
*jungle* too. All the branches. He couldn't see ten feet ahead.  
  
And the whistling behind him didn't help.  
  
***  
  
"Hello?" Ryouga called out. Damn it all to hell! Where was he   
now? For all he knew, it was on Mars at the moment. It was still the  
same strange colored sky, but he wasn't with Akane.  
  
And there was someone whistling behind him!   
  
Ryouga's intelligence went to work again. This had to be   
Ranma's fault!  
  
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, RANMA!!!!"  
  
***  
  
(NOTE: Have you seen the mini-series "The 10th Kingdom"? No? That's  
horrible! It a great storyline, and a great series or movie in all.  
In the end, haven't you ever wondered about a second book? They said  
that it was only the end of the first book, so what was the second   
book about? Read more to find out!)  
  
"The marriage of Virginia Louis and Wolf," read the townspeople.  
There were murmurs of approval as they read what was written on the   
board. It was about time. Everyone in the Nine Kingdoms had heard of  
the heroic deeds of the few from the Tenth Kingdom and the ones who  
helped them. "All is invited at King Wendell's Palace. All weapons  
and magical tools to be left at the edge of the 4th Kingdom."  
  
A few people sighed when they read that. They had so wanted to  
pull the biggest prank in the history of the Nine Kingdoms. It   
seemed like they had to get to work on the presents again. As if they  
didn't give enough things to Prince Wendell's Cordination. Never   
mind- it was KING Wendell now.   
  
The spoiled Prince had grown up when he had been left to face   
living as a dog all his life- and with the help of the Tenth Kingdom  
natives, they all saved the entire Nine Kingdoms. It was rumored that  
he had visited the Tenth Kingdom before! Not many believed it, though.  
In fact, the Tenth Kingom had been nothing more than a fairy tale   
until a few months ago.   
  
And of course, no one had been too sure that Queen Cinderella   
was still alive until a few months ago. Fact was, after Snow White   
disappeared, no one was really sure about the Happily Ever After stuff  
at all. Especially after the evil Queen escaped. Things had just  
gotten from bad to worse when they had found that the Troll King had  
challenged Prince Wendell to battle or the takeover of the 4th   
Kingdom.  
  
Unknown to them, two Tenth Kingdom residents had been whisked   
to the Nine Kingdoms to save them, and had been working on their plan  
as the things happened to get worse, just waiting for the right time   
to strike.  
  
Of course, as all stories went, the things turned out to be   
Happily Ever After. Snow White made a guest appearance, Cinderella   
showed up, and Queen Riding Hood the 4th had been taught a lesson to  
make her challenges harder- seeing that a dog passed her tests! The   
Troll King and the evil Queen was killed, and all the Magic Mirrors  
from the Snow White Era were discovered and saved. The burial place  
of the original Evil Queen was located and vanquished. Prince Wendell   
got on with his Coorination and a new castle had been built to honor   
those victories. Of course, the Fairies from the Eighth Kingdom   
didn't seem too pleased with the fact that they did not get a part of  
the action, but that was okay.  
  
Soon the crowds around the board started to disperse, all   
wondering about what presents to send the new heros of the 4th Kingdom.  
Something without any magic in them... hmm, that would be a hard one.  
  
Meanwhile....  
  
"Look, Prince, that's really nice of you, but I really don't   
think enchanted gowns would look nice on me. I've had enough   
enchantment for the week already."  
  
King Wendell sighed. No matter how many times he told Virginia  
not to call him "Prince" as she did when he had been turned into a   
dog, she just couldn't break out of the habit. There were only two   
people in all of the Ten Kingdoms that would argue with him constantly  
over every small thing.   
  
Those two Tenth Kingdomers! Anthony was easy to deal with... but  
his daughter! Why would she never listen?  
  
"Viginia, there would be small accidents bound to happen at   
your wedding," he paused a moment when he saw the fleeting glint of  
sadness in her eyes, telling of the terrible decision she had to make  
at his Coorination. "But," he said, changing his words mentally to   
make it easier for her, "Nothing big, I'm sure. Maybe someone would   
accidentally spill wine on your dress, or you-"  
  
"-I rip it on the tables, or Wolf steps on my feet, or maybe he  
even howls in front of the crowds." Virginia concluded sarcatically.   
Her eyes softened when she saw the King wince slightly. "Look, Prince,  
I know you're only trying to help, but what good will wearing *this*   
do me?" As if on cue, she thrusted a light cream colored dress into   
his face.  
  
Wendell blinked. Maybe he should have told his servants to   
choose some other... less revealing enchanted dress. "Well... I don't  
think it can be stained." There's nothing there to be stained!  
  
"Cause there's nothing there to be stained!" she retorted.  
Wendell wondered for a moment if she had read his mind. "Look, I'd   
like as little magic at the Wedding as I can. You know me and magic."  
  
Wendell nearly snorted before he remembered that it was not   
King like behavior. "Yes, I do know." He said dryly. Although he had  
not been there when Virginia had been cursed by Gypsies, he had heard  
of what happened. With a few tweaks, she could have been Queen   
Repunsel's daughter.  
  
But because of the long hair that she had been cursed with, she  
had found the lost Seven Dwarves House. The house was a historical   
monument for Prince Wendell White, for his great-grandmother was   
Snow White herself. So some good had come out of it.  
  
"And that is why I have ordered that none of the Wedding gifts  
brought in will contain magic. Even the dwarves at Dragon Mountain  
must come up with something other than their magic mirrors." Wendell  
thought for a moment. "Although their True Mirrors are very useful   
to me."  
  
Virginia rolled her eyes in digust. Even since Wendell had   
gotten the True Mirror, he had used it to find many culpits and magic  
cursed victims. Bad thing was, the Mirror also reflected all lies,   
meaning any tiny little lie about going for a walk or getting some   
air would cause the Mirror to set truth to her tales.  
  
"By the way, usually I don't even get to talk to you that long  
before Wolf drags you away. Where is he, anyway?"  
  
Virginia shurgged. "I'm not his keeper. I'll be his wife, but  
I won't be his keeper. All I know is that he said he had to visit   
someone, but he wouldn't say anymore than that. He might get back   
sometime now. I won't be surprised if he gets back in the next few   
minutes."  
  
King Wendell allowed himself a small smile. "You know, he's   
obsessed about you."  
  
"I knew. Ever since he tried to eat my grandmother, that   
is..."  
  
***  
  
Misty awoke to laughter and smells of a campfire. Her nose   
twitched as she felt pikachu sleeping right next to her face.   
Where was she? Had she gotten lost? She didn't remember going to   
sleep... last she remembered were the facts that she had somehow   
ended up on Orions'Ka and that there were people arguing next to   
her. She opened her eyes slowly.  
  
"Hey, look, she's awake."  
  
Trying to focus on the blurry image in front of her, she saw  
a woman with red hair touching her forehead and frowning. Soon  
as the woman saw that Misty was awake, the frown quickly vanished.  
  
"How are you doing, Misty?" The woman asked, trying to sound  
kind and failing miserably. It could be because of the rough edge  
in her voice, or the tiredness, but it sounded grumpy, even though  
the look in her eyes and the words were kind.  
  
She searched her groggy mind for a name. "I'm fine, I think...  
Mara."  
  
She could see Mara smile. Yeah, that meant she had gotten the  
name correct. Then she stole a glance behind Mara where everyone   
else was. "Um... what's Lass doing?"  
  
Mara turned. Lass wasn't sitting with everyone else by the   
campfire. In fact, she and You-chan were sitting a bit into the   
trees, candlelight flickering in their faces and transforming the  
sweet looking girls' expressions into hard and demonic features.  
It was strange that the two girls weren't with their final Orions'  
Ka resident, Miigie. But Miigie seemed to be enjoying herself by  
the campfire listening to Kagome tell her tales of what happened   
to her ever since she had discovered that she was the reincarnation  
of the High Priestess Keikyo.  
  
The two girls were looking into the candles around them with  
fierce determination as the flames jumped and flickered. Mara   
frowned. While they had explained to the rest of them that the   
three of their current hosts were powerful "magic" wielders of   
Orions'Ka, they haven't demonstrated any magic abilities at all.   
Or even any sign that they were skilled in the Force.   
  
It could be that they were talented with strange abilities,   
although Mara really doubted that. So far, they were young and   
extremely hyper girls with mood swings the size of Kessel. Too   
young, in fact, to even have to lead them in a forest like this.  
  
Mara shook her head to clear her thoughts. Just because   
she had a hard childhood didn't mean that she could decide who   
had an easier childhood than her. By their moods earlier, they had  
already suffered through before. Being together must have been a   
great gift for them, whether they could see it or not.   
  
Her eyes sneaked over to Luke, who was sitting by the fire  
and listening intently to Kagome's story. He must be fascinated  
by the thought of such a jewel, Mara realized. It was almost like  
the ______ Jewel.  
  
But as her eyes went back to Lass and You-chan, she suspected  
that something was not right with the picture. The girls looked  
much too serious, and much too determined. Almost as if they were  
doing something, like calling up a large amount of power. But it  
couldn't be, could it? They didn't have a bit of the Force   
potential in them at all. She couldn't sense anything, at the very  
least. And if Luke had, he would have talked to them about it.   
But he merely listened to their stories about Orions'Ka and didn't  
question them at all.   
  
Perhaps she was being too suspicous. With a frustrated sigh,  
Mara turned back to Misty. "I wouldn't know. Are you sure you're   
feeling fine? You seemed a bit out of it..."  
  
***  
  
(NOTE: I think the worst plot in Evangelion was when Kaworu died...  
There should have been some way to have both mankind and Angels   
to live at peace with each other. Kaworu did *not* have to die to   
liberate mankind. *pout* That's my opinion. But then, I'm biased.   
Kaworu's just my favorite character.)  
  
Kaworu Nagisa.  
  
Kaworu of the seashore.  
  
A silver-haired boy opened his eyes to view the dim lit forest,  
the pale gold sky and knew that it wasn't where he had intended to   
go. This was not his home. This was not where he belonged.  
  
A slight frown set on his face, Tabris got up from where he   
laid on the lush grass, his movements graceful and flawless. It was   
an unexpected change for him to be here.   
  
His last memory had been of Lilith... giving up his will to   
survive when Unit-01 had crashed into the room, and grabbed him   
before his blending with Lilith. It had been his decision to allow   
himself to be killed. His Free Will. (For the non-Eva fans, Tabris  
is the Angel of Free Will.)  
  
The frown was set deeper as he thought of Shinji, and what   
the boy would feel to know that he had killed. If only they had not  
such different destinies... one to destroy mankind, another to save  
it. If only... then maybe their lives would have been finer... more   
peaceful and filled with love...  
  
Tabris set his eyes on the fading yellow sun. But... was he   
Tabris of the Angels? Or was he Kaworu Nagisa... one born of the   
Lilims and with the frail body of a Lilim?  
  
And another thing... where was he? His death should have set   
him free of his destiny, free of the song of Adam and Lilith.  
  
But.. it was no time to think about what should have happened.  
The real thing that should have happened was a second chance. Kaworu  
was sure that if he had a second chance, he would be able to get   
his life together again. Or afterlife. Whatever.  
  
Looking around his surroundings, the Angel decided that some-  
thing was seriously wrong. He had not been here before. There was   
not where he had intended to be and what was even worse, he couldn't   
see nor hear a sound of life around him.   
  
No birds, no insects, no small burrowing animals... nothing   
at all. It unnerved him how silent the forest around him was.   
Although filled with life and floral abound, there were no animal   
life at all.   
  
Yet... he could hear whistling. There was someone else in the   
forest. Someone was whistling behind him.   
  
He turned around quickly to search for the voice.  
  
***  
  
Wolf sighed happily as he bounded down the corridoors of the  
castle. His wedding day! Oooh, that sounded so... unfit. Unproper.  
It was more than that. It was the day when he would marry the girl   
of his dreams!  
  
He was nearly skipping as he thought about it. Fate! What a   
glorious thing. It was destinied that he and Virginia would be   
together. Destiny had brought her to the Nine Kingdoms.   
  
Wait. She was also destinied to save the Nine Kingdoms, and   
she had to do so by jouneying there. Wolf bit his lower lip in   
frustration. Cripes! Why was everything just so hard to reason with?  
It wasn't that he was stupid... no, no. His brilliant wits and   
quick thinking had saved the day more than once.  
  
He filled with glee when he started seeing cooks and chiefs  
busy preparing food. Food! Meat! Lots and lots of it... Oooh, lamb.  
Young lambs. Juicy lambs. Also rabbits... rabbits and sheep and...  
Oooh! It was too much to think of!  
  
Wolf stuck his head in the kitchen and gave an experimental  
sniff. Ahhh... lamb soup. Fish sniffets. Roast beef. Shimp delica-  
  
"Wolf! Where in the world have you been? Are you trying to   
sneak into the kitchen?"  
  
Wolf whirled around, shutting the door and placing his hands  
behind his back in an innocent gesture. "Why, no, Tony. Hehe...   
why in the world would I do that? Why would I do that when it'll  
be finished in a few hours... when the wedding's to take place?"  
Wolf's hunger dissolved at the thought of his beloved. His eyes  
seemed to gaze over with the thought of the wedding.  
  
Hey. A wolf only has one mate a lifetime.  
  
Anthony gave Wolf a hard look. Though he still didn't trust   
Wolf much with his daughter, Virginia seemed to be the one in   
control. Besides, after the wedding... he would be giving his   
daughter away. Wolf *had* been a part of their journey against   
the evil Queen anyhow.  
  
"Yeah. Whatever. Virginia's been expecting you for the   
past..." Tony glanced at his Rolex Oyster, which he got back from  
the Tooth Fairy a while ago. "Half an hour. She needs you to   
help with the invitations. Says something about not having every-  
thing right..."  
  
Wolf was off in an instant. Virginia needed him! Even if it  
was only with the guests, he had learned best than to anger her.  
A temper like hers only came from her mother.  
  
Anthony sighed as he watched Wolf panic. Wendell said that  
he wanted everything right, so that nothing wrong could have a   
place to happen. But then, whenever something went right, some-  
thing else was bound to go wrong.  
  
He just hoped that it would happen after the wedding.  
  
***  
  
(NOTE: Evangelion again. There's more than one character   
from there. Just combining some series together, as usual. This  
takes place before "A World Ending". So, no one's dead yet...   
except the Angels.)  
  
Shinji grit his teeth together so hard he could hear it.  
What the hell was that *thing* in front of him? They had   
defeated seventeen Angels! They had fulfilled the prophecy...  
so why was there another Angel attacking?  
  
Asuka had fallen into a coma... so it was up to him and  
Rei. Wonder girl, Asuka had called her. Shinji wondered how   
long Asuka would boast about it when she discovered she was  
right. Rei wasn't an ordinary girl at all...  
  
Unit-01 staggered back as the Angel advanced, taking  
advantage of that moment of weakness. The strange Eva look-  
alike Angel grabbed on to Unit-01's wrists, preventing it   
from moving.  
  
*Get a grip!* Shinji thought to himself, willing the  
Evangelion to struggle against the Angel. He was starting to   
loose concentration since the seventeenth Angel, Tabris,   
died. So many things to think about, yet so little he under-  
stood.  
  
"Rei! Quick! While the Angel's on to Shinji, use your  
Energy rifle!"  
  
Shinji winced as Misato's voice flooded into the entry  
plug. So easy for her to say, she wasn't in the battle. He   
felt like his wrist bones were going to break soon!   
  
The bright blue Unit-00 was leaping towards the battle.  
Rei had been reinforcement as usual. But with only two pilots,  
and one big honkin' Angel, it wasn't going to be an easy win.  
  
Shinji watched, unable to help as Rei fired upon the   
Angel, only to discover its AT Field too strong. It was the   
same as always, of course. There was no way that the Angel   
was going to let them win that easily.   
  
With a sudden sense of strength, Shinji was able to level  
the Angel up for a kick. While his hands were useless in the   
situation, he was damned if he were to let that Angel win.  
  
"Shinji!! What the hell do you think you're doing? Don't   
touch that Angel!!!"  
  
Wha-?  
  
Unit-00 was already in the chase with Unit-01 and the   
Angel, dropping the energy rifle and starting into a run to the   
battle. With the weapons dropped, the only way to stop the Angel  
now was hand-to-hand battle. Too bad neither of the Children   
were too good at it.   
  
With a roar of vengence as the Angel fell back a few good   
meters, the battle was resumed. But it was only a matter of time  
when both the Children realized that they were at a disadvantage.  
While they both felt every once of pain and fratige with the   
battle, the Angel felt none of those.  
  
Round after round of attacks were presented before the first  
serious injury was inflicted.  
  
It had been a miracle that the power cord had lasted that   
long, but it was a miracle that Shinji was glad for. His body  
ached from numberous small wounds. Both he and Rei were exhasted,  
having been fighting only on instinct.  
  
There seemed to be a moment of peace as the Angel glared  
at the two Evangelion and pilots. Without a warning, it moved in  
towards Rei, with a fury unsurpressed.  
  
Shinji could do nothing but watch in shock as Unit-00 was   
knocked down from a hard shove. Knocked right into Unit-01 from   
behind knocking the both of them down.  
  
As Shinji scrambled to get his pounding head to concentrate  
on the battle, he noticed the countdown for remaining power. Well,  
there went the power cord. Five minutes of power.  
  
"Shinji! Rei! C'mon, get up! Ritsuko's prepared an extra   
prog knife... it's beyond the building on your right-"  
  
Shinji gasped as Unit-01 was suddenly lifted into the air  
by its throat. His hands left the controls as he tried to pry   
invisible fingers from his throat.  
  
He was on his own... Rei had been knocked unconcious by the  
attack, and with 4 minutes and thirty seconds of power remaining,  
the odds didn't look too good.  
  
Unit-01 was thrown to the right by the Angel, crashing into   
a building before it came to a stop in the rubble.  
  
The prog knife to the right... dimmly, Shinji wondered on   
how long he could stay in the battle.   
  
By the time Unit-01 regained the strength to get back up,   
there was three minutes of power left. Three minutes to finish  
the battle and win the fight for humanity...  
  
Digging one hand into the rubble that was the building   
Misato had been talking about, Unit-01 had no trouble finding the  
large prog knife. Two minutes and thirty seconds.  
  
Leaping up and rushing towards the Angel, Unit-01 tried to   
bury the knife into the core of the Angel, which was showing clearly  
dispite it looking like an Eva.  
  
A thin, red ripple was the only response to Shinji's attack.  
The blade of the knife did nothing but sink in a few inches, not   
even touching the Angel.  
  
Shinji gritted his teeth so hard he could hear it. Pushing   
down again, he felt the blade go in another inch or so. The AT   
Field wasn't yielding.  
  
The Angel seemed to smirk at him for the useless effort.   
If only he had something to distract the Angel-  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, Shinji could see Unit-00 get up  
slowly, struggling to stand. Seeing the newfound hope, he put his  
attention back on getting through the AT Field.   
  
The Angel seemed to be getting tired of playing with Unit-01,  
and moved to strike it yet again when it found its arms tied back.  
What in the world-?  
  
With it's attention on Rei, who was holding the Angel's arms   
back, Shinji thrusted the knife through the AT Field... a few   
inches from the core.  
  
One minute.  
  
Damn! The Angel broke free from Unit-00 and laid an uppercut  
to Unit-01's jaw. Stumbling backwards, Unit-01 could only watch,   
stunned, as the Angel turned to do battle with Unit-00. The prog   
knife was still in the Angel, but the Angel did not seem to feel   
it. How in the world could it advoid pain so easily?  
  
Getting back up through sheer determination and will, also   
mized in with a helplessness he always got when he was so close to  
defeat, Shinji contemplated his plan. He didn't have one, but he   
needed one and fast. 30 seconds of power left.  
  
Screaming as he charged yet again, Shinji felt an emotion he  
rarely ever felt.   
  
Anger. Rage. Fury.   
  
He was beyond pain and beyond reasoning. The last few weeks   
had taken a toll on him. The death of one of the few friends that   
he had had changed the shy, meek boy into a deadly enigma.  
  
The ones who were the closest to him could see the difference  
so easily. Yet he had not lost control, had never lost his temper   
like that. Fratige was settling in, and Shinji could not afford for  
that to happen. He had to resort to an age old custom of drawing   
strength- by letting oneself be taken over by their emotions.   
  
Racing over to the ongoing battle, Shinji took the Angel by  
surprise when he knocked it down. Reaching out to grab the prog   
knife while the Angel was still down and stunned, Shinji gave a   
good, hard pull.   
  
A sudden kick sent him to the ground.   
  
20 seconds.  
  
Rei retaliated, going on hand to hand with the Angel, hoping  
to win a fruitless cause, since she had exactly the same amount of  
time left as Shinji did.  
  
15 seconds.  
  
Shinji got up again, adrenaline rushing through his veins. He  
had the knife now. One more blow- if he could move fast enough and  
with enough percision, then the battle would be over. But there was  
one problem. With Rei fighting the Angel at such close proximity,   
there was a great chance that Shinji would miss and bury the knife   
right into his comrade.  
  
10 seconds.  
  
An opening! While Rei finally gained the upper hand and had  
the Angel in a tighthold, Shinji dived in with the prog knife.  
  
5 seconds.  
  
As the prog knife sank into the Angel, Shinji began to realize  
his mistake. Yes, he had struck the core. But not with enough   
strength. The weak strike made by Unit-01 had barely allowed the   
knife to sink into the Angel. Oh shoot...  
  
1 second.  
  
Full power blackout. The Angel howled in both anger and   
victory as both the Evangelions shut down, leaving their pilots to  
scream and pound uselessly at the controls.  
  
With the knowladge that it would be doing more damage than   
dying peacefully, the Angel self-destructed, blowing the outskirts  
of Tokyo-3 sky high.  
  
***  
  
"What the *hell* was that?!"  
  
Daniel blinked and tried to clear the floating lights in  
his vision. The team had been wondering around the forest with the   
occational grumble about the humid weather, the dense trees and   
such when the had seen, heard, and felt an enormous blast.  
  
When the bright light of the fire subsided, the team had  
felt more than a little more winded in only the presense of the  
blast.  
  
Jack was in full CO mode as he marched unmercifully to the  
site of the blast. He left his teammates stumbling in his foot-  
steps as he headed towards the dimming light, brushing branches   
and annoying saplings aside with more attention than he had a few  
minutes ago.   
  
Sam and Daniel gave each other a look before following.   
Though they always did this, it was irritating just the same.   
Almost as if the Colonel wanted to be in front just to see if it   
was safe for the others to follow.  
  
The two sighed as the resigned to just following behind Jack  
and walking before Teal'c. Although they were each a valued   
member of SG-1, there were sometimes... limitations. It didn't   
really matter when it counted, but it was irritating in the lacking  
times. Though the Colonel respected her abilities, he tended to   
move around Sam as if protecting her when it came to battles of   
strength. She was fine in hand to hand or refined attacks, but   
there was always a time when the battles would be counted as 'man  
to man'. Heh. Stubborn male pride.  
  
With Daniel it was a different matter. Hours of work at the  
gym enabled the meek scholar to match up with his team's speed and  
endurance. Reluclant combact practice had honed up reflexes and   
instincts that he never knew he had. But he was still no match   
for any other member of the team. And in moments of battle- he  
tended to get a tad annoyed as everyone teamed up in a protective  
circle.   
  
It was a complete surprise to have them stumble upon a   
strange looking boy who was also headed the same direction. The   
boy had the strangest colored hair with a pair of deep red eyes.   
Well. That was a new one. Perhaps this world was full of people  
with red eyes?  
  
"Hello." Daniel started, putting his skills to work. "I'm  
Daniel Jackson. We're peaceful explorers from the planet Earth."  
  
The boy looked at them like they were crazy.  
  
So began the introduction of Kaworu Nagisa, and not Tabris  
the Angel.  
  
***  
  
As the last branch was parted for the group to get a full   
view of the blast site, Kaworu could feel himself tense up. He had   
been getting strange vibes from the place, strange feelings and   
emotions. Almost as if warning him. Warning him closer or away he  
had not been able to tell. But now he knew.  
  
As SG-1 gaped in awe at the magnificant sight before them,   
Kaworu could only watch on nervously. He was somewhat prepared   
for what he was to see, but seeing it was a shock indeed.  
  
Two scorched and defeated Evangelions lay on the dead earth   
before them. From the respective colors and the feel of the pilots  
inside the gigantic machines, Kaworu was able to identify the two   
Evas as Unit-00 and Unit-01.  
  
"What in the world are those things?" Daniel asked.  
  
Not bothering to reply, Kaworu broke into a light jog to the  
robotic giants. With the Evas this battered, who knows what had   
happened to the pilots? Besides, Kaworu was throwing logic out   
his head for the moment. Who cares about how two Evangelion units  
could have ended in this God-forsaken planet?   
  
All that mattered at the moment was that Kaworu was finally   
getting his second chance. His chance to get his life back together.  
It was just what he wanted, and if God had given him that chance-  
well, he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth!  
  
Looking a bit frantic by the time he reached Unit-01, Kaworu  
searched desperately for an eject button. How in the world were   
they going to get the pilots out? In the condition that the Evas   
were in, the pilots had to be either in a coma or dead. They   
*needed* medical attention.  
  
While it was known that Angels had many useful talents and  
regeneration tactics, it was only known to work on themselves.   
Kaworu was to be damned if that were to stop him from learning a  
way to help others with that ability, too.  
  
"Shinji?" He whispered, too scared to say it any louder. He  
sank his hands into the hot, melting armor, not feeling the burns.  
How could they get the pilot out?!  
  
"Kaworu?"  
  
The teenaged boy turned his scared eyes to SG-1, the elite   
team of explorers. They would be able to help him. The Angel had  
never felt so paniced in his life.  
  
"There's someone in here," Kaworu said, keeping his voice   
steady. "I think that person's hurt in some way... but I can't   
get him out."  
  
Jack kneeled down besides Kaworu, pulling his arms out of   
the metal. "Okay, kiddo. Do you know where that person is?" He  
gave a spare glance at his team. "We'll do what we can to help,  
and it'll be easier if we can get some information from you."  
  
Jack silently gestured for Carter to get out the first aid  
kit. Not only did the boy in that... *thing* need it, Kaworu  
also needed it.  
  
"He's in the spine." As soon as Kaworu said that, he felt   
a pang of guilt as he remembered about the other pilot. Pulling  
out of Jack's grasp, Kaworu moved to the other Eva, hoping   
against all hope that Rei was still concious and able to press  
the self-eject button.  
  
"Ayanami?" Kaworu asked quietly as he neared the big blue  
mess that was Unit-00. Searching for her life sign, Karowu found  
a faint and weak pulse. She was concious, but not much more than  
that. "Can you hear me? If you can, you have to eject yourself.  
I can't help you if I can't find you."  
  
Kaworu could feel as Rei, slowly and painfully, found the  
small button that had been hiding somewhere in the plug.  
  
"Good. I'll stand away for a bit. You can tell me what  
happened later."  
  
Kaworu stepped backwards to hear a 'whoosh' of air as the  
entry plug ejected in front of him. Without a moment's delay,  
he reached for the super-heated hatch- only to be caught off   
guard as someone else did... with gloves too.  
  
Daniel smiled at the teenaged boy as he brought his hands  
up. From the looks of it, that hatch was very hot. If Kaworu was  
willing to get all these injuries for these... people in the  
machines, then he must be a very kind boy.  
  
"Did you know how this machine ejected and the other did  
not, Kaworu?" Daniel asked absently as he slowly turned the   
hatch. It was burning even through the gloves, but Daniel made  
no comment.  
  
"This pilot was still concious." Kaworu said.  
  
As Daniel finally pulled the hatch open, he was shocked  
as a strange, clear fluid rushed out and soaked him through.  
It smelled like blood...  
  
Kaworu wasted no time getting through the LCL. Although   
he dreaded the blood of Lilith, he would rather save a life   
then leave his fear to intensify.  
  
A semi-concious Rei Ayanami stared at him, her head   
barely lifted and her hands still on the controls. Her eyes   
narrowed when she realized who it was.  
  
"Come on," Kaworu said, ignoring the glare and holding   
out a hand. "We've got to get you out of here."  
  
***  
  
Ranma came to a sudden halt as he raced out from the   
forests. There before her was the strangest sight she had seen  
yet. Two gigantic burning piles of colored metal. It certainly   
beat the silly demon that Happosai had managed to summon last   
time.  
  
She could hear the ragged breathing as Tom and Harry   
stopped besides her. Why in the world had they been assigned   
babysitters?!  
  
She heard a short gasp as the two FBI Officers arrived.  
  
Akane and Ukyou's arrival were not much quieter.  
  
"Holy-!!!" Ukyou managed out before remembering that they   
were supposed to be quiet and that she was supposed to be the   
cute and polite one. She then asked quietly, "What is that?"  
  
The damage was already done. Six people were looking at   
them, one carrying what looked like an injured form. But instead  
of attacking them or anything of the short, they just went back   
inspecting one of the robots.  
  
"I think they're trying to get whoever's in there out."   
Ranma spoke. She looked at the rest of them, as if asking 'are  
you coming?' before running off to offer her help.  
  
Mulder turned to Ranma's friends with a look. They just   
shrugged and said, "He always does that," before runnning after   
her.  
  
The group sighed, but also went after that redheaded girl.  
Apparently, Ranma was still far too trusting.  
  
***  
  
"Ikari had been the closest to the Angel," Ayanami was   
explaining weakly to the team. "He can not help to get out."  
  
Apparently, the outter eject button had been melted with   
all the other armor. There was no way to get Shinji out without   
getting seriously burned. With Daniel taking care of Rei and   
Sam treating the burns on Kaworu's hands, all they had was   
Teal'c brutal strength and Jack's help.  
  
"There's no way to do this..." Jack grumbled in frustration.  
How could they rescue someone who was trapped like that? Sure,  
they could go back to the SGC to get a team, more medical   
supplies, and a plan to help- but what if the pilot was seriously  
injured and he wakes while they're gone? Besides, they had gone   
through the forest for hours, not minutes.  
  
"Mind if we gave a hand?"  
  
Everyone looked up to see a small redheaded girl in over-  
sized Chinese clothes giving them a confident look. Behind her,   
there were more people approching.  
  
Without waiting for an answer, the girl walked over to the  
giant purple and green robot. "You say there's someone trapped   
in there?" She looked at them.  
  
Daniel was the first to recover. "Yes..."  
  
The girl cupped her hands before shouting, "Moko Takabisha!"  
And firing some sort of energy blast at the robot. A large part   
of the melting metal vaporized in an instant.  
  
"Whoa," Jack commented, stunned, "That's better than the  
video games..."  
  
She kept continuing this until a small white form of the  
entry plug could be seen. Her attacks did nothing but get rid of  
the melting metal. Anything that was melted or wasn't metal   
remained untouched. Luckily the Eva had fallen on its face, and  
the spine had been easy to reach.  
  
With her job done, the girl sat right down on the burnt  
dirt, exhasted. Attacks like that had to be exhasting...  
  
SG-1 did their part and was able to get the hatch open,   
flooding the earth with LCL.  
  
It was after they rescued the boy in there and calmed   
Kaworu down were there time for introductions.   
  
"My name is Ranma Saotome, and they're Akane and Ukyou...  
my friends." Ranma gave them both a look, signaling 'quiet'.  
The other two just coughed quietly. Friends indeed. It would   
be strange if Ranma had actually said fiancees...  
  
"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill," Jack introduced, taking charge.  
"There's Dr. Jackson, Captain Carter, and Teal'c." He gestured  
to each of his team. Daniel gave a glare for using only their   
titles, but otherwise said nothing.  
  
"I am Kaworu Nagisa." Kaworu spoke, cradling the unconcious  
Eva pilot on his shoulder while checking Ayanami for wounds.  
Knowing that she would stay silent, Kaworu introduced them for  
the others too. "The others are Rei Ayanami and Shinji Ikari."  
He was really starting to feel uncomfortable with Rei's stare.  
  
"Lt. Tom Paris."  
  
"Ensign Harry Kim."   
  
With a shrug, the two FBI officers introduced themselves.  
"Special Agent Fox Mulder and Special Agent Dana Scully."  
  
With a sigh, Scully spoke up, "So far, all of us have   
different perspectives on where we are. Hopefully you'll be   
able to clear some things up." She directed the words at SG-1.  
  
The team blinked. "Us?" Daniel asked, unsure. "You mean  
that you're lost?" He looked uncomfortable. "We're not exactly  
sure where we are either. In fact, we're not from this planet."  
  
Scully just nodded. Not from this... They were all nuts.  
Though some of the guys there were cute, each of them had   
their strangeness. Take Tom, for example. Cute guy, but he   
thinks that they're on the other side of the galaxy and that   
it's already the 24th century. Even though the phaser and   
scanner thingie that he had worked, Scully was sure it was   
some smart prodigy that made those things.   
  
And Ranma's blasts.... well, she would think up an   
explination for that later.  
  
Ranma sighed. She had figured that. After an entire life  
of fighting demons and traveling through time and dimensions,  
going to another planet sounded reasonably normal to her.  
Having a curse like hers was the most unusual of all.  
  
Voicing her opinions and theories on where they were,   
Ranma started the conversation that uncovered a lot of infor-  
mation.  
  
***  
  
Shinji blinked open his eyes. Everything *hurt*. Well,  
not that much. It was more like his entire body was aching.  
But he was alive. That must have meant that they defeated   
the Angel.  
  
Shifting, he realized that he was leaning on someone.  
Where was the infirmary room where someone always landed in  
after an Angel attack?  
  
Feeling him shifting, the arm around his shoulders   
tightened a bit. Shoot. Must be bad if someone was actually  
taking care of him like that.  
  
Dimmly, he could see the shape of people all gathered   
together. Talking and laughing, it seemed like. Wow. Some-  
thing big must have happened while he had been out.  
  
"Shinji?" Came a voice. "Time to wake up."  
  
That voice sounded familiar... very familiar. But Shinji  
couldn't place where that voice was from.   
  
Opening his eyes just a tiny bit wider... enough to   
see the shape of a campfire and more detailed pictures on the  
people that were laughing, he realized that he had never   
seen those people before. Where was he? What happened?  
  
"Come on..." A hand brushed back the hair that had been  
in his face. "You have people who wants to meet you."  
  
His slowly whirling mind was trying to make 2 and 2   
four, with little success. Tilting his head to look up at   
whoever spoke to him to ask a few questions, his mind froze.  
  
The boy with moonlight hair and red eyes gave him a   
trademark smile. "There is people who wants to meet you,   
Shinji. It's about time that you woke up."  
  
K-Kaworu?????  
  
***  
  
A portal a few miles from the camp that the small group  
had set up began expanding rapidly. With the peaceful light  
and swirls disrupted, it flickered in pain as a creature   
emerged from it. Then another. Then another.  
  
After it could take no more, the portal whispered into  
nothing, taking the last of whatever was coming through with  
it. But the damage was done.  
  
A Yajorai demon stood on its hind legs and roared in   
fury. All the other smaller ones behind it did the same.  
  
Evil had sent those five demons. Soul demons, they were.  
  
And they planned to eat.  
  
  
  
  
To be continued.......  
  
  
Author's Mad Scribbles:  
  
It's been so long.... in fact, I never really thought   
that I would finish this chapter. But that was only when I   
was on the top. After the middle, it got a lot easier to   
write. It's easier when I have something to focus on, and not  
have to skip around to each and every character in the story.  
  
Yes, I have a plot for this. I'm not writing this down  
mindlessly as it looks like. But I'm still only trying to   
get the characters together. Before they can fight, they have  
to know each other pretty well. They have to at least be   
friends. That's the only way that they'll survive the   
creatures that I'll make them fight. I'm evil, aren't I?  
  
For the non-Evangelion fans, you ask, "What's it between  
Kaworu and Shinji, girl?"  
  
I say, "Go watch the tape." Tape 12, episode 24. This  
is a shounen ai story. I'm planning on a relationship for   
those two. God knows that they deserve it. So if you don't   
like m/m relationships, just skip the parts with Kaworu and  
Shinji. I'm not writing anything above PG-13, though. No   
yaoi. This girl isn't old enough, and she ain't interested!  
  
Although this story came out a year after the first,  
it took about a week's time to write, altogether. I'm getting  
faster when it comes to writing these things. I just had a   
year's period between writing the beginning and the end.  
Kinda forgot about this story for a while.  
  
This chapter is dedicated to my best friend Marissa, who  
is going to another High School... And to Stephanie and   
Yizhao, who are also going to that high school. To Carol,   
who's going to yet another high school, and to all the   
teachers at my elementry school. If they're reading this,   
then they know who they are. (Why would teachers be reading  
things like this? Because they're cool.)  
  
To the graduating class of 2000!!!!!!!  
  
  
  
--Shamera 


	3. Orions'Ka, chapter 3

sitafire@hotmail.com  
  
  
"Oh, I am what I am,   
I'll do what I want.  
But I can't hide....  
I won't go,   
I won't sleep,  
I can't breathe,  
Until you're resting here with me..."  
--"Here With Me" Dido  
  
  
ORIONS'KA  
  
Chapter 3  
by: Shamera  
  
Some are able to feel the presense of danger, as if someone was   
a warning right before the happening. Almost as clear when presenting   
itself as a bad omen.  
  
Most of the group that were settling by a fire felt that prickling   
of the neck- that horrid feeling of dread like the calm before the storm.  
They were all rested and happy after their talks with each other and   
finding new friends, but there was also a tense feeling in the air that  
screamed for attention.  
  
Something bad was going to happen.  
  
Most of all weren't surprised when they heard a soul-shattering  
scream coming from the edge of the forest. But they were still shocked  
when it actually came.   
  
Inu-Yasha was particulary tense. Even with his sense of smell   
and his hearing a lot better than an ordinary human, there was some-  
thing amiss in the situation that they were in. The forest that he   
was in was constantly changing, and the lack of animals was a bad sign  
when it came to his experiance.  
  
It was strange to see the locals of their little groups startle  
and gasp. The three girls of that group were wide-eyed with not fear,  
but a sense of recognition.  
  
"Is everyone awake?" Luke, the middled-aged man in the group   
asked. He was already getting to his feet, his wife Mara not far   
behind him.  
  
With the nods going around, it was easy to tell just how nervous  
everyone was. Even the three proclaimed Guardians of Orions'Ka were  
looking nervous.  
  
"Alright, then." Inu-Yasha spoke from the tree he was on,   
getting a few surprised shouts from some people. He ignored them, and  
focused on the girls. "You three know something about this feeling   
that we're been getting, don't you?"  
  
You-chan looked at Lass befire sighing and mentioning for the  
scared people to sit down again. As they did, she sat down along   
with them. "Years ago, when the Guardians first met, they never worked  
too well together. For their punishment and for a test, Orions'Ka   
sent a demon to them. Something called a Yajorai demon from the planet  
K'P'lyssa in dimension 3542. The Yajorai are a race of soul demons,  
who devour souls in order to gain power. They are very, very hard to  
kill. And they have no sense of logic, nor order.  
  
"When the Guardians found that the Yajorai were after them,   
they made their first mistake. They split up. There were two demons  
after them, and they thought that they could handle the demons by   
throwing their powers from different points." Her mouth settled into  
a grim line. "They did not succeed."  
  
"So how did you defeat them?" Brock asked, obviously confused.  
  
Lass was the one who answered. "You mistake those Guardians  
for us. They are not. Those Guardians died because of their foolish-  
ness. That was the reason that we were called into battle. We   
haven't fought a Yajorai demon before, and just assumed that Orions'  
Ka got rid of it. Seems that they might still be alive."  
  
"I don't understand." Mara said. "You say that Orions'Ka has   
called all of us into battle. You say that this next battle might  
be worse than the Guardians could take on. So we're here to battle   
these demons?"  
  
"Maybe, but I don't think so." Lass replied. "The Yajorai   
demons might be very strong, and it might take all of us to battle  
them, but I think there's something wrong if Orions'Ka itself can't  
get rid of them. Usually if they can call the creatures here, they   
can get rid of the creatures while it's here.  
  
"It's most likely that the Omega Jewel is in danger. But   
not in danger from being stolen. I think that this might be some-  
thing worse than that."  
  
The group looked around. The Omega Jewel in danger from   
something other than being stolen? The longest discussion that they  
had held the last night was about teh Omega Jewel, since it was   
the greatest bet the the Jewel had brought them there, and there  
had been nothing discussed in detail *about* the Jewel, and not  
its powers.  
  
"The Omega Jewel," Kagome spoke, letting the words roll off  
her tongue. Holding Shippo firmly, she stood up. "If it's anything  
like the Jewel of Four Souls, then I think that the Jewel is   
corrupted. Maybe that Jewel contains souls, and something's happened  
to it."  
  
"Perhaps." You-chan said. "But unlike the Jewel of Four Souls,  
the Omega Jewel doesn't hold souls. It holds the Good and Evil in  
the universes. It holds a balance. For every Evil deed seen or   
done, something Good might come out of it. That's why it's so   
dangerous to be handled. Whoever in close proximity to the Jewel  
can corrupt it. Whatever's in their heart might disturb the balance.  
And if the balance is disturbed, nothing Good can come out if   
*that*."  
  
"What do you mean?" Most asked, while others murmured around,  
trying to find something to compare that to.  
  
"The Jewel does not contain any power like in legends. It   
has no abilities to give, and no person to rule. That Jewel is the  
center of the universe because of the balance that it has." Lass  
shook her head sadly. "I've seen once how easily some thinks that  
they can control the power of the Jewel. They never know what hit  
them when the Jewel starts controlling *them*."  
  
"Corruption of the Jewel." Luke murmured, thinking. He looked  
frustrated for a moment, as if some important memory had been blocked  
from him. "Isn't there always, in every case, something to stop that   
from happening? A jewel never corrupts... it's always the wearer  
who corrupts *it*."  
  
"Yes, that's true." Miigie spoke up from where she sat. "But   
you have to remember, the Omega Jewel has no owner. Well... it did  
once." She was staring straight into the campfire, and looking very  
grim. For her age, it was enough to tell everyone that she knew more  
than they thought she did.   
  
"The legend of the creation of Omega was as a gift from the   
God to the Goddess. Although I don't believe in beings that control  
the universes, there is a legend.  
  
"In the beginning, there was the Creation. Stars were born,   
and the ones that didn't shine bright enough were killed. Beings and  
life were brought together, and they grew. The grew and grew, until  
there were no peace, no balance to anything. The only death known to  
living was through evil.  
  
"That was the first cycle of life. Something that we had all   
wanted, but would never work out. Life was unbalanced, and people   
all over were unhappy.  
  
"Supposedly, the Goddess found little joy either at watching  
her offspring battle. She grew cold and bitter, seeing nothing but   
war for death, and life being created so fast that death could not   
catch up.  
  
"The God also grew unhappy about what happened to his love. So  
he made her a gift. A gift of balance.  
  
"He said, 'For every life, there shall be death. For every war,  
there shall be peace. For every tear shed, there shall soon be laughter  
to replace it. A balance to life so that not good, nor evil, shall   
rule what we have created.' And thus, the creation of the Omega Jewel."  
  
Kagome shifted uncomfortably. "I hate to say it, but that doesn't  
sound too right... The Omega Jewel... I didn't remember, but I think  
I heard my grandfather going on about it once. He knows everything   
about magical jewels, not me."  
  
Miigie shrugged, back into her cute girl stage. "It could be   
wrong. But then, the only record of Orions'Ka through the ages is in  
a magical book in the darkest side of Orions'Ka where it can never be   
harmed. There is always someone there to guard to book- a seer who sees  
all and writes everything that happens into it."  
  
Mara smiled. "I'd be interested in finding that book." She was   
sitting with her arms rested on her knees, huddling for warmth. "I   
think that we should try and get that book, or the seer. Either might  
be able to tell us about why we were all sent here from different   
universes. Not only that, we also need information about the demons."  
  
You-chan looked a bit annoyed. She undauntedly pushed her hair   
over her shoulders, tying it up into a quick ponytail. "You have to   
remember, this doesn't always have to be a big reason on you being   
here. This is Orions'Ka- we always have visitors from other universes."  
  
"We may not be the first visitors," Mara countered. "But we're   
certainly the first to arrive with a purpose here."  
  
The Guardians were silent.  
  
***  
  
First Child Rei Ayanami watched the reunion between the Third Child  
and the Fifth Child with hidden amusement. She had been concerned for  
Third Child Ikari after the death of the Seventeenth Angel. Although   
never openly admiting it, Ayanami liked Shinji. Perhaps she got the  
feelings from Rei II. Her death had struck Shinji, and as much as she   
hated to admit it, Ayanami was relieved that he cared.  
  
Smiling inwardly at Shinji's shocked expression when he saw the  
Fifth Child, Ayanami was starting to think that the resurrection of   
Tabris was actually a good thing. She knew by experiance that Angels   
weren't evil. They just acted on instinct to reach Adam.  
  
Seeing that everyone's attention was actually on the two boys, she  
decided to help give her... friends out. Doing something that she rarely  
did, she spoke, "How did we all get here?"  
  
Turning to the blue-haired girl, Harry found himself blushing   
before he spoke. "Well... the ship that we travel on, Voyager, had been  
stranded in the Delta Quadrant for a few years already. Since all of you  
have different stories to tell, and no one knows of the Delta Quadrant,  
I'll skip to how we got here.  
  
"While investigating a possible wormhole for a way home, we started  
detecting radiation waves coming towards us. We tried to get away, with  
little success-"  
  
"*Only* because we were caught in a pull," Tom interjected,   
protecting his dignaty.  
  
"-but we were caught in the pull of the wormhole and were sucked  
through," Harry ignored Tom, his eyes on the young girl. He gave a brief  
smile, to be met with a blank stare.  
  
"Well," Mulder looked at his partner. "We were investigating   
something about lights in the sky when we wondered into a forest. Kept  
walking ever since. The sky's different from what we're used to, that's  
for sure."  
  
"We came through the Stargate," Daniel explained. Seeing the blank  
looks, he continued, "It's a large ring that transports people across   
the galaxy. Kind of like the wormhole that Harry was talking about.  
  
"We came through, and had been exploring this place. I think we  
got lost."  
  
"What about you, Ranma?" Sam asked supportively.  
  
"Me? Oh, us." Ranma gave a careless shrug. "We got lost."  
  
Everyone blinked.  
  
Scully used a stick to poke at the small fire that they had. "What  
about you, Kaworu? And Shinji and Rei too."  
  
Kaworu's red eyes lowered to the fire. "I'm not sure how I got to  
be here." He said. "I remember... well, I remember dying." Shinji   
suddenly went still. Kaworu continued on, "Woke up here, and that's all  
I know." His voice told the others that he didn't really want to talk   
about it.  
  
Kaworu turned to Shinji with a smile. "What about you, Shin-chan?"  
  
Shinji shifted, still to tired to move from Kaworu's side. "There  
was an Angel attack... Units Zero and One were sent to intercept... the  
Angels diabled the Evangelions." Shinji shook his head sadly. "It got us   
real good. I barely got the injure the Angel before my remaining power  
ran out. Then... I think it self-destructed."  
  
Kaworu's mouth became a grim line.  
  
"I don't understand," Shinji admitted. "We were supposed to be   
finished. We were supposed to be fine. The prophacy was completed. So   
why did we still have to fight?" His voice faded at the last sylabol.  
  
Kaworu wrapped his arm tighter around Shinji, looking very sad.  
"There's... more to the prophacy than you think..." Everyone's attention  
was now on him. They didn't know much about Angels, they didn't know that  
he was an Angel. They only know the basics which the Children had told   
them. They only knew that Kaworu was the Fifth Child that had died.  
  
"Seventeen Angels will test the planet to see it's worth. Seventeen  
Angels will report back to see how the humans had farred." Kaworu's   
voice was low, with a note of sadness. "If nothing goes wrong, then the  
humans would be allowed to evolve. Humans are the Eighteenth Angel, in  
case you never read the end of the prophacy in the Dead Sea Scolls.  
  
"But if something went wrong, then the Eighteenth Angel would be  
sent, not to destroy mankind, but to ask for it's help. To get the   
warriors who had beaten all the Angels to help in it's quest. Whatever  
that quest may be."  
  
Daniel was silent for a moment before speaking. "This quest... if  
you have a prophacy on this quest, then why are the rest of us here?"  
  
To their surprise, it was not Kaworu that answered, but Ayanami.  
"Because that quest had been unknown."  
  
***  
  
(NOTE: This takes place in Fushigi Yuugi after the episodes "To Die for  
the Star of Suzaku" and during "Nuriko, Eternal Farewell". I felt that   
it was very sad how Nuriko finally started to live his own life when it  
was taken from him. Just *why* was Nuriko the first warrior to die?!)  
  
"H...Have to look after you two..." Nuriko felt his incrediable  
strength fading. He knew that he wouldn't survive this, but also knew  
that he had to keep going as long as he could for the rest of the   
Suzaku warriors. They had to summon the animal God...  
  
"Don't speak, Nuriko." Tamahome sounded a bit paniced. "Conserve  
your strength."  
  
Nuriko coughed. "I...I'm not going to die. That wound's not enough  
to kill Nuriko..." Yet he knew that it wasn't true.  
  
"Of course you're not going to die, Nuriko." Miaka's voice had  
forced happiness in it. "You're going to protect me, right? You're   
going to protect me even when we're both old and grey."  
  
Nuriko could only smile.  
  
"Tamahome, you stay with him. I'll go look for Miskasuki. He'll be   
able to heal Nuriko." With that, Miaka scrambled up from the snow and  
started down the mountain as fast as possible.  
  
*Oh, Miaka, you fool,* Nuriko thought numbly. *Miskasuki's not going  
to arrive in time. And even with his healing abilities, he's not able  
to rise the dead...* He bit down another wave of pain. *I had hoped so  
much to be able to find a family with all of you. Goodbye, Miaka-chan.  
Goodbye Tama-chan...*  
  
With that thought, Nuriko closed his eyes.  
  
It was a wave that all seven Suzaku warriors felt. It was their   
first loss to the Seiryuu warriors.  
  
"Nuriko..." Tamahome clutched his friend as tears started to fall.  
  
Meanwhile on Orions'Ka  
  
"Alright! Ow! What's with all the landing on the ass?!"  
  
Nuriko winced as he rubbed his backside. It didn't register in his  
head that he was somewhere other then in China. Even the color of the  
sky didn't bother him much.  
  
Reaching behind his back, he finally felt something that was wrong.  
It wasn't the sky. It wasn't the place. It wasn't the surrounding   
silence.  
  
His hair was long again.  
  
Pulling the thick, braided purple hair to the front, Nuriko   
suddenly remembered what happened. The battle on the snowy mountain.  
The escape from Ashitare which proved to be fatal.  
  
The sobs of both Tamahome and Miaka for his death.  
  
Suddenly the thought for getting home seemed very appealling to  
him. Not only had Nuriko only started his new journey to self-discovery,  
he had started the process of making a new life with family and friends.  
  
Besides, he found that having his hair back disturbed him somewhat.  
He gave it a small tug, and then let it rest with a sigh. He would deal  
with it later. If he wasn't in Konen, then...  
  
Giving a few moments thought on identity, Nuriko smiled a sly grin.  
Well, he could have some fun here.  
  
***  
  
(NOTE: Please Save My Earth was a beautifully done anime... but the   
ending SUCKED. The manga had a full ending, though, for people who were  
looking for the complete story about what happened to Rin and his plans  
with the Tokyo Tower and the Moon Base. Also, I heard that in the end  
Issei and Sakura got engaged- O.o;; I had really thought that Issei and  
Jinpachi would start something up... guess I was wrong.)  
  
"Enju! Enju, this isn't funny!"  
  
Sakura let out a loud string of curses. It certainly wasn't funny.  
Her best friend, and now fiancee, was missing. Of course, he had been   
there not a minute ago with a shopping bag balanced on his left elbow.  
  
But then... she had also been walking to her car not a minute ago.  
This forest was nowhere that Sakura had ever seen before, even dispite   
her wild dreams of the moon and other places.  
  
"Maaaa, Sakura," came a tired voice to her side. She turned in   
her dress, causing her hair to fly around her shoulders before landing  
in a mess behind her.  
  
"Enju! There you are! I was looking around for you and- Enju?   
Dear? Issei? What's wrong?"  
  
Enju, or for a better name for her reincarnation, Issei, was   
looking a bit tired as well as annoyed by his fiancee's stream of   
constant energy and questions.  
  
He ran a hand through the thick black hair which sat in messy   
clumps (Which, in my opinion, looks a LOT cuter than his schoolboy cut...  
which still made him the cutest in the series... This just looks a lot   
cooler. ^_^) on his forehead, and sighed overdramatically.  
  
"Oh, don't give me that!" Sakura scolded, hands on her hips. "But  
really, what's wrong? You're usually coming up with something to say  
that counters whatever I believe. You look tired."  
  
Issei gave her a strange look. "I've been trapped in the forest   
for the last hour, and I finally find you here, and I seem tired?" He  
blinked at her, steamed, and copied her move- incidentally looking a   
lot like Enju on the moon base without realizing it.  
  
Sakura sweatdropped, and realized she needed to work that out with  
her fiancee... something about how her fiancee had more femine grace   
than she did really bothered her...  
  
"What?" Issei demanded. After a moment of Sakura staring pointedly  
at him, he quickly dropped his hands and put them in the pocket of his   
jeans, red in the cheeks. "Bad habit." he murmured.  
  
Sakura only shook her head, amused. It wasn't as if she forgot   
about the situation, it was just that she had been in quite a few strange  
situations already to really care. Just *why* couldn't her life be   
normal?  
  
"Hush, you," she spoke teasingly. Under strange circumstances, she  
had begun to love him as soon as she met him, just as she had been friends  
with Enju from the frist time they met.  
  
There was a shuffle in the bushes next to them, and as they watched,  
a beautiful, yet tomboyish, Chinese lady appeared out of them, wincing  
as she pushed the branches away.  
  
"Excuse me, miss," Issei called out politely, making sure that   
Sakura wouldn't start shouting and scare the lady away. "Can you please  
tell us where we are?"  
  
Strange indeed. The lady (she had a beautiful shade of purple hair)  
turned and stared at them with large amber eyes. Then she shrugged, as   
if satisfied with what she saw. "I'm not sure either."  
  
The two were surprised by her low, husky alto voice, sure to drive  
any man (well... except maybe Issei, if he counts) up the wall.   
  
"So everyone's lost..." Sakura muttered under her breath, fingers  
under her chin. It was strange to know that you're been teleported some-  
where else while in the middle of grocerey shopping.  
  
But then... It wasn't as if she had never teleported in her life.  
Living with people like Shion and Shikaido, there were always interesting  
battles of psychic powers. Even Issei had a bit of telepathy, although  
he usually blocked it out of respect for other people's privacy.  
  
"Trees," Issei said out of the blue.  
  
The two women looked at him. He just shrugged sheepishly and pointed  
to the nearby tree- which was shaking heavily like there were people on  
it. "There's something nearby."  
  
A roar broke out in the distance.  
  
***  
  
Four children, plus one bird and an alien, were walking down the  
forest, grumbling about the lack of animals. Oh, it wasn't hot. It was  
very comfortable, as a matter of fact. The ground was also soft to step  
in, although that didn't matter after eight hours of walking. The thing  
about lack of animals were the lack of defences.  
  
Tobias was perched on Rachel's shoulder, alert to anything nearby.  
For several hours already, he had always thought he heard something far  
away, but could never tell.  
  
Everyone else looked pretty tired, except for Ax, who never slowed  
down nor acknowladged the word 'tired'. Their pace was slow and   
faultering, although they were on maximum speed.  
  
Hey, you guys, Tobias suddenly spoke up, finally hearing some-  
thing that he could tell. He spread his wings and lifted up the the air,  
quite a hard task without all the breezes on Orions'Ka. I hear a flute  
playing. I'm going to go take a look.  
  
Flute? Cassie's eyes narrowed the slightest bit. So they weren't   
the only ones here. Not too shabby for Orions'Ka.  
  
The group had stopped for a rest, Jake having said that if they   
kept on going, he was going to fall over in a dead faint.  
  
Tobias came back within moments, telling of a boy around the same   
age as them sitting on the rock and playing a flute. Strange, he looks  
Chinese, if not for the blond hair. (And for Fushigi Yuugi fans out   
there- who's that? ^_^)  
  
"Does he look like he could be working for anyone?" Jake asked  
tiredly.  
  
Tobias took a moment to think, landing on a tree branch a few feet   
above the rest of them. I'm not sure. He looks like he belongs there on  
the rock. A local alien? A monk?  
  
Rachel merely looked annoyed at the lack of information. "Who   
cares? Maybe he can help us. Maybe not. If not, we can beat some stupid  
boy." (I like Rachel, but I think that Ami-chan's power is one of the   
BEST. Undefeatable... unless you don't have ears.)  
  
"Don't be so confident, Rachel." warned Jake. "We don't know any-  
thing about this place except for what Erek told us. The boy could be a   
Yeerk."  
  
Marco rolled his eyes. "If he's a Yeerk, then why was Visser Three  
trying to get here himself? Not just having someone else to do the dirty  
work?"  
  
That settled it. Rachel got up from where she had been sitting, and  
winced. Her legs felt stiff as a board. "That's it. I'm going to ask for  
assistance." She strained out the last word, making sure that it wasn't   
for help. Taking a few wobbly steps, she let out a breath. "Anyone with  
me?"  
  
"Call me crazy," Marco muttered as he also got up, wincing from  
the pain of it all.   
  
"Cassie?" Rachel asked, looking expectedly at her best friend.  
  
Cassie shook her head. "Sorry, but I think that we'd be better off  
alone here. It's not safe to make friends out in such a dangerous place  
as this." Everyone stared at her, but she stayed where she was.  
  
"Well... if Cassie's going to stay, I'll be here waiting for you  
guys." Jake said.  
  
Rachel looked at Ax, then shook her head, disgusted. "Yeah... Ax   
will stay where Jake'll be."  
  
Then she looked up at Tobias, "Coming?"  
  
That was how the Animorphs got seperated into two.  
  
***  
  
Amiboshi set down his flute and sighed. He was supposed to be   
dead- killed by the arrival of Tenkou. He had expected death to be a   
lot more pleasent than this. It wasn't that this place wasn't beautiful,  
though. It was just that he had expected to be able to see his family   
again. His brother, as well as his parents.  
  
He was the last of the Seiryuu Warriors to die. A fact which he   
did not know whether to laugh or cry over. But it was in the end which  
he had allowed his brother Suboshi to take over his body to save his   
Priestess, Yui.  
  
A disturbance in the air made him look up to see the first animal  
since he had arrived. A beautiful hawk with red tail feathers. He smiled  
slightly, wondering what the animal was thinking. Was it enjoying it's  
freedom in the air? Free from responsiblities, and the weight of having   
a nation, a world on your shoulders?  
  
Amiboshi stared at his flute again, feeling tired yet willing to  
play for a bit more. His death had not been in vain. He had been able to  
apologize to the spirits of the Suzaku Warriors before his death, an  
apology which they had accepted with no hate in their hearts.  
  
He had been able to save Yui this time, knowing that he had not  
betrayed the Seiryuu God in his alliance with Suzaku. That was something  
he would always be proud of. Even though he had betrayed his God for a   
while- he had never betrayed his own heart.  
  
Wait. A disturbance. Some evil finding its way here. Was there evil  
in the afterlife too? He had hoped not, although he could never be sure.  
But he wasn't the only one here... and if he tried to do anything, he   
would be hurting the other people.  
  
At that moment, a duo of kids around his age, probably younger,   
appeared from the forest, mouth open to either call out a greeting or a  
warning.  
  
"Cover your ears!" Amiboshi commanded, having no time for intro-  
ductions. He lifted the flute to his mouth, and saw that the two had a   
bit of trouble following.   
  
As the two finally covered their ears, a loud roar overtook the   
plateau. Two wrinkled skinned black monsters burst out the trees, each  
of them at least ten feet high. They roared again once and charged at   
Amiboshi, seeing him as the easiest target since the other two teenagers  
were deadly still, hands covered over their ears.   
  
Amiboshi calmly raised the flute to his lips, and started playing.  
  
***  
  
"Cards, cards, cards," Virginia heaved a sigh and added a few   
more invitations to the pile. She wanted to make sure that they hadn't  
invited anyone they would regret.  
  
"Where *is* Wolf?" She murmured, still piling though the cards.  
Sure, they had already been sent and those were only copies- but she  
the authority to choose who she wanted at her wedding. There had to be  
something wrong in those cards. She wanted things to go perfect.  
  
Of course, Prince had already left her a dress of her choice-  
something not as revealing as the magic makers had made for her. It   
seemed that he was sure something small would go wrong, like her dress  
tearing or something spilling.  
  
Virginia was sure that nothing like that would happen. She was   
more sure that something bigger would go wrong, just like it did back   
a few months ago when she destined to save the Nine Kingdoms. Something  
awful would happen, and ruin the most memorable day in her life.  
  
"Guards," she called out, turning her head towards to doorway to  
where two guards were resting. "Would you do me a favor and go find   
Wolf? He's supposed to be here." Her voice was neutral, although inside  
was starting to get annoyed at how late Wolf was.  
  
The Guards only nodded as one of them left. The other, of course,  
was to either help her or defend her in case something happened. She   
had been declared as Princess after all, since she was the stepsister   
of King Wendell.  
  
And Wolf... she frowned. Wolf was awfully late, considering that  
he never wanted to upset her. It got her worried. Where could he be?   
He couldn't be missing so soon as the wedding was to start at sundown.  
All ceremonies and balls started at sundown in the 4th Kingdom.  
  
She sighed again and flopped down the cards in her hands. This was  
so boring... she would be asleep by the wedding! She might as well talk  
to Prince about the dress and the decoration. It seemed that Wolf must  
have had something very important happen if he wasn't here.   
  
Oh well. She would scold him later, then forgive him if he had a  
good reason.  
  
Standing up and dusting off her jeans, Virginia stretched her legs  
and walked out of the mailing room, dodging some people carrying pots  
of roses and others with bags of food.  
  
Oh, he had better have a good reason.  
  
***  
  
Rachel winced as the music started- if that could be called music.  
No, it wasn't horrible... just a bit too high to be enjoyable. But still,  
it HURT. Even though she was covering her ears, she could hear just a   
tiny bit of the music... and the notes that got in her head gave her a   
pounding headache.  
  
But her eyes watched as the boy in front of her continued to   
calmly play his flute as the monster advanced on him. Part of her was  
calling him an idiot, and another part wanted his courage.   
  
The two dark beasts before him reared up, shrieking and roaring   
as their heads filled with pain from the music. This was not how someone  
covered their ears when they heard extraordinary bad music. In fact,  
it was quite different. The music was unpleasent, but not bad at all. As   
if the music were not the one giving the headache. There was just some-  
thing in the notes that hurt so much.  
  
The two beasts roared their loudest, trying to block out the music  
with their own sounds and failing.  
  
The boy opened one eye during that playing and gave them a lazy,  
examining look. After a moment, the notes got even more shrill.  
  
Rachel's mind went numb at his last note, as she completely lost  
control of her body and fell to her knees on the soft grass.  
  
The two monsters shrieked and tried to cover their ears with their  
short, stubby hands. One monster finally gave a final and weak roar   
before falling to the ground, twitching.  
  
The second took its example, turned, and high tailed out of the   
place, giving one last glare to the boy who has downed his companion.  
Without one last roar, the monster ran as fast as possible out of the   
grass plain.  
  
Suddenly, the notes stopped.  
  
Dropped her hands to the grass besides her knees, Rachel gasped  
and looked over to Marco, who was doing the same thing. He was eyeing  
the other boy wearily, taking note to himself to never get that boy   
angry.  
  
"Here," there was a voice above her as a hand took her elbow. "Let  
me help. You really should have covered your ears harder, you know. The  
two of you are lucky that you only got the aftereffects that had bounced  
back from those demons."  
  
As Rachel got up with the help of that boy, she tried to grasp   
that term in her mind. They only had the aftereffects? Wearily, she   
looked up at the boy who stood by her side with a new light of respect.  
  
After he also helped Marco up, he said, "My name is Amiboshi. And  
the two of you are...?"  
  
"I'm Marco." The boy replied. "She's Xena."  
  
Rachel gave him a glare. "I'm sorry about Marco's ill timed jokes.  
My name is Rachel." She dusted her hands off.  
  
The blond boy just nodded, not really giving her the second look   
that said, 'Hey! Are you a supermodel?' Which, of course, gave him a few  
good pointers in Rachel's book. "I suppose that you also don't  
know where we are."  
  
Actually, we do know. Tobias said for the first time during the  
entire scene. To a certain extent.  
  
Amiboshi looked up, startled. Seeing the red-tailed hawk, he   
murmured, "Incredible. Shapeshifters?" He directed the question to not   
only Tobias.  
  
"I suppose you could call us that," Marco said under his breath.  
  
Amiboshi only nodded, as if he had seen shapeshifters before. (Well,  
I suppose that Ashitare[hatehatediedie] counts, right?) "Then you're a   
group of shapeshifters? One animal or many?"  
  
Um... many?  
  
"Oh, alright." He was taking this very calmly. "Just please tell  
me when you're in animal form. My chi is not very directed and there are  
times when surrounding animals will also be affected. You might want to  
run when I start playing."  
  
Marco, Rachel, and Tobias could only swallow when they heard that,   
staring at the motionless corpse that Amiboshi so carefully ignored.  
  
***  
  
"What was that?!"  
  
Kagome's voice held a small shriek to it as she stayed close to  
a very annoyed Inu-Yasha, who was barely tolerating Kagome besides him  
with Shippo in her arms.   
  
Misty smiled as she walked a bit behind the three. She had her   
thumbs hooked into the sling of her pack. "It's probably nothing. There's  
a lot of strange sounds in the woods for a place so bare of animals."  
  
Kagome looked over to Misty and smiled. It was easy to start a   
conversation with the other girl, since they both felt so strongly   
about everything.  
  
"I think that it's probably one of those demons Lass was talking  
about." Inu-Yasha said absentmindedly, sending the two girls into a   
facefault. He continued walking, either not noticing or ignoring the two.  
"Lots of demons in this area."  
  
"Would you stop trying to creep us out?" Misty demanded, hugging  
the straps of her backpack to herself. She was glancing nervously around  
the forest now, turning at the slightest twitch and movement.  
  
"Hey, you're the one lagging behind." Inu-Yasha pointed out, not  
even goving the girl a backwards glance. "It's for you to catch up."  
  
Misty whirled to Kagome. "How can you even like that guy?" She   
asked, genuinely surprised. "He has a horrible attitude!"  
  
Kagome blinked at that, then murmured, "He's not always that bad...  
There are certain times when he can be very sweet..."  
  
Misty's eyebrow rose, and then a slow smile crept on to her face.  
Grinning dumbly at the other girl, she just started to whistle innocently  
and skipped to catch up with the others.  
  
Kagome stared at Misty. "What?" She demanded, but then had to race  
to catch up with othe others too.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
Luke stode in the front of the group calmly, taking in what   
You-chan was saying and looking over at his wife in amusement. The young  
girl had been very interested in what Luke could do and what he might be  
able to teach her.  
  
"Are you sure that I don't have a bit of the Force?" She sounded  
disappointed, and had her hair done in a braid which hung limply down   
her back. "Nothing at all?"  
  
"I'm sorry," Luke apologized, genuinely meaning it. "But there are  
a lot of people who cannot access the Force. The ones who can are but a  
selected few." He passed an amused look to Mara.  
  
"Oh." The word was dejecting, but she was skipping to keep up with  
the two. "Well, do you think I can do anything that doesn't involve the  
Force? Anything cool?"  
  
Mara laughed. "I'm sure you can do a lot of things without the   
Force. If you want to, I can teach you how to dance when we rest again."  
  
You-chan brightened. "You sure? You won't mind?" Then she grew  
skeptical. "When *is* the next time we stop?" (The reader has to remember  
that the group is on the side of Orions'Ka which is always daylight.)  
  
"Shouldn't be long," Luke replied. Although You-chan was one of   
the three that knew where they were going, Luke and Mara were the real   
leaders of the group, telling when to start and stop, also when to be  
cautious about the dangers which the Guardians warned them of.  
  
"You should save up some energy," Mara said to You-chan. "Dancing  
isn't that easy." She was eyeing the way You-chan was skipping down   
the dirt path.   
  
You-chan stopped. "You're right. But I think that we might be able  
to stop somewhere nice today. If I remember correctly, there should be a  
village up a few miles away." She turned to the rest of the group, who  
were talking within each other. "But don't tell them yet. My memory   
usually likes to play tricks on me."  
  
The two adults smiled. It was nice to see the teenage girl so   
energetic about something that didn't involve the weight of the world  
resting on her shoulders.   
  
"You must have some other power to protect yourself." Mara said,  
"You said you're one of Orions'Ka's Guardians?"  
  
You-chan nodded. "Yeah. But my powers doesn't do anything like the  
Force." She heaved a sigh. "It's exactly the opposite. But... I can't   
show it yet. It's dangerous."  
  
Luke nodded. "We understand."  
  
You-chan just smiled at them, and then continued skipping, not   
speaking about powers again.  
  
***  
  
"This is very annoying, you know." Tom commented.  
  
"We know." Ranma replied, sounding very annoyed herself. She winced  
as she pushed through another branch, and seriously prayed for hot water  
sometime soon. "You don't think we know? We're been stuck in these   
branches for so long already. There's no way of knowing where we're   
going!"  
  
"So why don't you just blast yourself out of these woods?" Scully  
asked sarcastically. She was getting tired and itchy with all the   
scratches that she got passing through the area.  
  
"Sorry," Ranma replied. "Only aviliable for battles. I can't waste  
my energy on little things like this."  
  
"I wouldn't," Scully batted away another branch. "Say that!"  
  
Akane could only mutter something about redheads.  
  
"I don't know," Shinji was saying as he lagged behind the most of  
them. He sounded very tired. "I think this is a battle... I don't think  
I can hold out for long!"  
  
"Where's that blasted P-chan, anyway?" Ranma said, feeling a bit  
sorry for the people behind her and so pushing the branches a bit harder  
and further away.  
  
"I don't know who you're- OWW!!" Harry yelped as he caught the   
branch straight in the face.   
  
Ranma turned. "Oh! Sorry!" She put on an innocent look, trying to  
help Harry with his bruise and ended up giving him a nosebleed, which   
resulted to Ranma punching him back a few meters yelling, "Pervert!"  
  
Mulder shook his head as he cleared the way in the front, hoping  
that everyone was keeping up. Jack and Teal'c were also in the front,  
cutting down branches as much as they could to ease the people in the   
back from having to go through so much.  
  
"Kids," Jack muttered, "I don't know just what they're talking   
about nowadays." Mulder could only agree.  
  
"You don't know and you love it." Daniel was rolling his eyes  
as he also cut down branches behind them as the second row. Sam nodded  
her head in agreement. "but honestly, Jack, I thought you thought just   
like a kid- never with your head."  
  
"I take that as an insult, Danny!" Jack called back, not breaking   
a sweat. "Kids are fine. It's people like you and Carter that has me   
worried. All work and no play makes people like you dull children!"  
  
"Maybe we weren't *trying* to make you think of us as children,   
sir?" Sam suggested as she cut the branches down at a furious rate.  
  
"Yeah. There are some *real* children back behind us and you're   
still thinking of us as younger than them."  
  
"It's all in the attitude, Kids."  
  
Mulder shook his head at the exchange and looked as far as he could  
in the dense forest. "Hey," he called. "I think we're nearing a way out."  
  
There were murmurs of excitment from the rest of them, mostly   
hoping for rest soon to replace the desperately needed energy which they  
hadn't had in the first place.  
  
"I really think that it's a good time to start using that ki of   
yours, Ranma." Akane pointed out. "Just one good blast and we'll be out  
of here, no sweat."  
  
"One good blast and I'll have to rest forever," Ranma muttered,  
still not moving to do as Akane and Scully and Shinji has asked. She   
was one of the only ones that didn't look too tired, and hadn't slowed  
down during the entire journey. Being a top notch martial artists really  
had its perks sometimes.  
  
"It will not be long until we are out anyway, right?" Kaworu asked  
cheerfully from the back. He was another which had stayed cheerful and  
energetic during the trip. "It does not matter."  
  
"Damn kid," Ukyou muttered, pushing away the branches with her   
spatula. "Donno how he can stay so cheerful." She stopped for a moment to  
brush her sweaty bangs from her face and found her legs stiff. Grunting,  
she started up the pace again, however painfully.   
  
"You're not the only one," Akane was saying from besides her. The  
petite girl wasn't having as much trouble as Ukyou was, but she was still  
very tired. Even though Ukyou could beat her in a fair fight, Akane's   
strength was how strong she was and her endurance.  
  
"You guys should calm down. Chill. We're almost out."   
  
The two girls whirled on Ranma and started yelling at her to blast  
the way out of there, saying that they couldn't take it anymore and that  
they had scratchs EVERYWHERE and protesting how tired they were.  
  
Mulder could only sigh as he pushed through the foilage. Here they   
went again. It was only a few meters to the end, and yet they were still  
arguing? He still had to get used to that idea.  
  
***  
  
Nuriko was getting very annoyed. He didn't know where he was, he  
was stuck with two people who were promised with each other, and one of  
them had the ability to read his mind!  
  
Okay. So he wasn't really annoyed with *them*. He was just annoyed  
with the planet that he was on. He didn't know where they were, and   
there was nothing that he could do about it.  
  
"Where do you think we should go, Nuriko?" The boy, Issei, asked  
politely. So far, he was more polite and had a better attitude than the   
girl, who had lost her temper a number a times in the mere hours that  
Nuriko had known her.  
  
"Village?" Nuriko asked himself, and shrugged. "Anywhere where   
there might be fires, buildings, or people, I guess. So far, there's no  
sign that the sun's going to be setting."  
  
Issei nodded and turned to get Sakura. There was something strange  
about Nuriko that he was getting, but he knew better than to read the   
pretty girl's mind. It would be rude.  
  
Nuriko was eyeing the surroundings distastfully. There *had* to be  
somewhere to stay, or somewhere where people was. He was also eyeing   
Issei carefully. Thank Suzaku that Issei was too polite to read his mind,  
or his masquerade would be up... again. It wasn't as if he wanted people  
to think that he was a girl... it was just familiar.  
  
There was so many trees... trees and trees and trees! They had   
walked for at least five hours without a hint of the time of sunset.  
And they had been surrounded by *trees*. It was so different than where  
Nuriko had grown up- from Konan to Kutou to Sailo to Genbu. Konan had   
the forests, but it always had a few villages within an hour's walk.  
  
He already missed the rest of them, and had been wondering how   
they were doing. Sure, he had died there, but he still cared about his  
friends. Was Tamahome taking care of Miaka? Did Miaka get the Shinzaho?  
How was Chichiri? Was Tasuki behaving? Did Miskasuke feel guilty about  
his death? Did Chirko learn anything new? Was Hotohori okay?  
  
He sighed. It was really pointless to think of things like that.  
He was dead, afterall. It wasn't as if he would be able to do anything   
had he been back there anyway.  
  
So why did he feel that he was still meant to do something? There  
was something in the air itself that told him that he was doing something  
very important just by being on the planet alone.  
  
But Nakago couldn't be here, could he? No, Tama-chan and the rest  
would deal with Nakago and get Yui back. They would call Suzaku and then  
Nuriko would be sent back to his world.   
  
Yet... he had the feeling that there was a Seiryuu Warrior was   
here. There was something non-threatning about the presense, but all   
the Seiryuu Warriors that Nuriko knew were psycho. Well... not really.  
He had really gotten to be good friends with Amiboshi.. who had been   
disguised as Chiriko. Although not all the Suzaku Warriors could forgive  
Amiboshi for his lie, Nuriko understood the reason Amiboshi had to do  
that. Miaka and Tamahome also did, as well as Chichiri and Chiriko.  
  
"Nuriko!" Issei was calling from a while away. "Sakura said that   
she found some people!"  
  
Nuriko broke away from his thoughts and acknowladged Issei's call.  
People. Finally... maybe they would know where he was.  
  
And how he could get back.  
  
***  
  
"Oh, cripes!" (Heh... guess who that is?)  
  
Wolf was pacing around on the small area of forest ground which he  
had been dumped in. It wasn't his fault, really! He had been looking  
for Virginia when he stumbled into the storage room where they kept the  
magic mirror. It had been turned on and was showing not Virginia's   
world, but some other place with beautiful trees and a golden sky.  
  
So he had been a bit curious. He hadn't been standing that close   
to the mirror- really! It was just that he had been a bit startled when  
the cooks ad clattered outside the room... well, the rest is history.  
  
Sure, he had been very lucky to land around a village which had   
been so kind to him- letting him stay, giving him food and providing him  
with supplies and clothes without questioning him.  
  
But he couldn't find the trail to the mirror again. It had just   
disappeared... somewhere, Wolf was sure. He just couldn't find it, or  
see it at the moment. He had to find it soon, though. Ohhh, Virginia's  
going to be sooooo angry!!! He could NOT miss the wedding... There was   
no way that Virginia would let him live if he missed the wedding.  
  
The villagers had been kind, but had heard nothing of a magic   
mirror before. They talked of portals, yes, but not to a place that he  
wanted and NEEDED to go to.   
  
They had said something about Guardians knowing how to get him   
back home? Could this be? He had to find whoever the villagers were   
talking about before sundown... Virginia would be mad enough as she was.  
He really didn't need to die over a simple mistake!  
  
***  
  
"I was *right*!" You-chan shouted as she cleared straight in front  
of everyone else. Lass and Miigie looked kind of annoyed by her cheerful-  
ness at such a strange time, but didn't say anything.  
  
Luke and Mara looked amused at the display. Everyone else was just  
happy to take a rest. The village that they saw was surrounded by thick  
trees, the only opening was the way that thay came, and one way that   
looked a bit worn.  
  
"We can rest here for a few hours," Luke said. He was already   
bounding into town, also happy to stop for a while. "Get some sleep, and  
we'll be on our way again." He looked over at Lass. "You said that there  
was somewhere we could find a record of Orions'Ka?"  
  
Lass nodded. "Down at the very deepest of Orions'Ka, there is a   
doorway to blackness, which leads straight to a Book of Shadows that has  
kept Orions'Ka's history ever since the planet was born. It would have  
recorded how you came here, and what your purpose here is."  
  
Luke nodded. "Then we'll be journeying to the dark side of Orions'  
Ka, if I'm not correct?"  
  
"We will." Lass said. She tightened the shoulder strap to her small  
pack of food and supplies. "We had better get some supplies here. The   
people on the dark side are kind, but also bargainers. You'll be giving  
them just about everything for a packet of dried beans."  
  
For a moment, the Princess looked worried. "We still have the   
Yajorai Demons to worry about also. Hopefully, Orions'Ka has sent other  
help. You-chan can maybe take down two of those demons with the type of  
power that she has... and if we're lucky, we might be able to take down  
two more, but then there'd still be one to go. If there's anything I know  
about Yajorai demons... they're quick on their feet and very smart,   
always working in groups to get what they want."  
  
"Then we have to be cautious. Perhaps we can find another group of  
people who has been sent here just like us?"  
  
"Maybe."  
  
Luke looked at the young girl besides him, quite surprised at how  
her attitude had changed from when he first saw her. It seemed that she  
could really get serious when she had to, and when the battle involved  
her planet in the jeporedy.  
  
It was good to know that someone that serious could be so childish  
at times, and be more mature at times when need be.   
  
"A real bed, a real shower..." Kagome was babbling.  
  
"Teach me how to dance!"  
  
"Oy, Ash, give it up. Pikachu isn't always going to be the best."  
  
"Go AWAY, Shippo! NO, I don't want to hear it!"  
  
Luke only gave a sigh as he watched Lass walk to her friends,   
discussing in detail about the journey to wherever they were going. He  
turned again to see his wife Mara trying to get a pleading You-chan off  
her long enough for her to take a shower before teaching her dancing.  
  
A small smile escaped without him noticing it. This place wasn't  
that bad... it had many people that he wouldn't mind meeting again, and  
also a lot of mysteries that he wouldn't mind uncovering.  
  
There were dangers to be faced, but hopefully, even after that,   
the small group wouldn't change. There was something nice in knowing   
all these new people, even though he missed the old gang. Perhaps they  
would be able to stay in touch afterwards. Orions'Ka was the home of   
portals, right?  
  
Luke shook his head. The journey hadn't even begun and he was   
already thinking about how it would end peacefully.  
  
But then, he hoped it would.  
  
***  
  
Tobias was flying overhead to scout out the new people. Sure, he   
was cautious of Amiboshi, but the other boy did not seem dangerous at all.  
It was just that he made no move to really hurt anybody. There was no   
prickling in the neck(If that's what it could be called) when he was   
around the boy.  
  
Which made thinking more confusing. The boy was certainly dangerous,  
right? Yet Tobias already trusted him without knowing anything about him.  
  
But he shouldn't really think that much about that. Rachel had told  
him to scout back for the rest of them a few minutes ago, yet so far he  
hadn't been able to find them. He had scouted through the edge of the   
forest about six times now, without any luck.  
  
Wait... there! There were three people down in the clearing...  
it didn't look like the other three that that he had been looking for.   
Could they have morphed? But he hadn't heard of morphs like that before.  
In fact, it just looked like three entirely different people.  
  
Turning in mid-flight, Tobias dove down back to where Rachel and   
Marco were. The two were seated on a rock, talking intently with Amiboshi,  
who seemed to be answering their questions with ease and somewhat   
embaressment.  
  
"Tobias!" Rachel called up, waving at him. "You found them?"  
  
No. He answered plainly. They aren't where we left them or any-  
where else nearby. But I did see three other people just a few yards   
from you. They seem lost too.  
  
"Other people?" Amiboshi questioned. He was a bit skeptical about  
what Tobias was saying. "Good or bad?"  
  
"Yeah," Marco was rolling his eyes, thinking that Tobias was joking  
about the others not being there. "Did it look like three teenagers-   
probably two humans and on Andalite?"  
  
I'm not lying, Marco. Tobias replied calmly. The others are not  
there. I couldn't see them, couldn't hear them, couldn't find them.   
Normally I'd have a much easier time since I know the woods, but even   
without knowladge of the surrounding area, I know that they aren't there.  
There's no way they can get past hawk eyes. Even Chee can't. He sounded  
annoyed, but then, he had reason to be.   
  
"They're... gone?" Rachel was worried. "Could those monsters have  
found them? Do you think they morphed small to get away?"  
  
It's a possibility. But I don't know. I was calling... they   
should have answered. Tobias paused. But if they monster was still   
around and able to hear thought-speak then they wouldn't have been able  
to respond. Except... I didn't see any monsters, either.  
  
"So they just disappeared." Amiboshi stated. He didn't seem too   
worried, but there was concern in his eyes. "I don't know... but I think  
I can feel..." His eyes grew even more concerned.  
  
"What is it, Amiboshi?" Rachel asked, turning to him.  
  
"Nothing. But if I'm not mistaken, there's an... old friend near-  
by." His words were clipped, as if he were sending his concentration   
somewhere else other than where the other three were.  
  
He looked distracted for a moment, then started walking where   
Tobias had just been.  
  
"Amiboshi? Amiboshi!" Rachel and Marco started after him, not   
knowing what was going on.  
  
"I don't know," He was murmuring, "But I think we might be able to  
find help somewhere nearby."  
  
***  
  
The Yajorai demon that had been defeated by Amiboshi stood up now  
that the humans were gone. It was now stronger than before, having been  
defeated because of the sudden increase in strength for his body.   
  
Poor little boy. He had not known the by feeding Yajorai his chi,   
the demon had gotten nothing but stronger. There was no way for him to  
defeat a Yajorai demon by feeding it pieces of his spirit.  
  
In fact, because of the humiliation, that boy would suffer. He   
would by the Yajorai's first victim, slowly being drained by giving off  
attack after attack, realizing too late that nothing like that would   
work.  
  
Then after that, the demons would advance on his friends. After   
his friends, the rest of the chosen ones. Everyone single one of them   
would nurish the Yajorai's energy, soon to be enough to relingish a   
whole planet full of people.  
  
This demon might be stronger... but the other four were still   
hungry...  
  
***  
  
Ending the chapter....  
  
You-chan was laying down on her back, throwing up a large glass   
ball as Ash sat next to her.  
  
"Hey," He called, Pikachu besides him. When You-chan gave no  
response, continuing to throw the ball, he asked, "Is that crystal?"  
  
You-chan smiled. "Nope."  
  
"Glass?"  
  
"Yeah..." The throwing stopped. "Crystals are good for storing   
energy and magic. Glass is good for keeping energy out. It's strange,   
really, how similar the two look and how different they really are."  
  
"Oh." Ash was starting to get a little bored. "Mrs. Skywalker sure  
does take a long time taking a shower, doesn't she?" Fact was, he was  
interested in watching the dance lesson, Mara having told the rest of the  
girls that they could learn also if they wanted to.  
  
"Yup." You-chan was bouncing the ball again. "Maybe too long."  
  
Pikachu was sneaking up over to where there were about nine more  
glass balls, climbing all over them as if examining what was so special   
about them.   
  
"You might want to keep Pikachu away from those ball," You-chan  
warned, her voice empty of threats. It was just a general saying.  
  
"Why?" Ash asked.  
  
Before You-chan could say anymore, Pikachu sneezed, and then landed  
hard down by the dirt where the balls were, imediantly asleep.  
  
Ash yelped, seeing that happened to Pikachi.  
  
"Luckily those aren't charged yet." You-chan was saying. She had  
stopped throwing the ball again and was staring at it intently, trying  
to figure out its strengths and weaknesses. "It only took away a little  
bit of Pikachu's energy." Setting down the ball, You-chan pushed herself  
up from the ground. "I suggest you guys get out of the way when the   
real battle begins."  
  
Ash did nothing but stare at the older girl as she walked away from  
the scene, leaving her glass balls behind... for now.  
  
  
  
To be continued.....  
  
  
  
Author's Mad Scribbles:  
  
Wow, this barely took me four days altogether. I CAN write when I   
want to, when I don't stop for a month in every paragraph, and when I have  
inspiration. Ha! Take that!  
  
What have I done with the Animophs, you shriek.   
  
Ehh, nothing much. There was just getting to be WAAAY too many   
characters. But don't worry, they're safe... just being held hostage by  
Cassie. (Boy, that feels strange to write) They'll come back later.  
  
AND... Amiboshi is cool. I like him, a lot. I REALLY, REALLY want  
to put in Suboshi sometime in the series, but there are waay too many   
people, like I said before. But who know... watch out for him sometime   
in the next few chapters. ;^)  
  
Issei and Sakura engaged??!! o.O I'm sorry, I find that surprising.  
But yes, I wrote that down too. I really wondered how he proposed to her  
back then....  
  
"Um.. Sakura? No, Shusulan... Ehh... this might sound really strange  
but you're been through so much with me, and I think that... well, I   
think that I love you, or I fell in love with you somewhere along the  
way and... I know that I used to be Enju, who was just your best friend,  
but I think.... well, thing is, will... will you marry me?"  
  
Oh, I have SO got to write something about that! ^_^ I donno, I'm   
starting to get limbo on the PSME fanfics.   
  
One more thing- yes, You-chan is my favorite from Guardians. She's  
the coolest, although the most cold-blooded. She has a temper and isn't   
afraid to show it! And I'm really starting to learn how to put everyone  
together! I think I gave everyone a small part here in the third chapter.  
Equally, too, I hope. Even Rei said something!!! ^_^  
  
Oh, I guess that bounds up chapter 2. Hope everyone had a good   
summer! Back to school soon... *sweatdrop* NO!! NOT HIGH SCHOOL!!!  
  
--Shamera  
  
Next chapter: Blood and mayhem!! The groups finally meet and the first  
battle with the Yajorai will ensue! Will they all survive? Just WHAT is  
You-chan's power that makes her so strong against the Yajorai? Find out,  
in the next chapter of Orions'Ka!!! 


	4. Orions'Ka, chapter 4

sitafire@hotmail.com  
  
"Sukoshi terenagara 'suki da yo' to tsubuyaiteru  
usotsuki no anata no kao namida-iro de nijindeki  
anata setsunaiyo gomen ne konna no  
ima no omoi wo nokoshiteru  
hutari no subete kono hikari no naka naraba  
mada maki-modoseru no? Ano hi ni..."  
Translated:  
"While feeling a little shy and murmuring 'I love you',  
Your lying face is blurred with the color of tears.  
I'm still in love with you! I'm sorry, but this way,  
Even now, I'm leaving behind my feelings.  
If everything about us is in this light,   
Can I still rewind? To that day?"  
-"Ano hi ni(To that day)", Video Girl Ai  
  
  
ORIONS'KA  
  
Chapter 4  
  
  
  
There were laughter and sounds of feet stomping the ground as the  
small group rested and danced. The villagers stood off the sidelines,   
clapping and giggling as someone made a wrong move. There were even some  
villagers that joined in the dancing, hoping to learn some of the   
complicated moves that Mara was displaying.   
  
But across the village, there was also another group of people that  
did not come from Orions'Ka. They were not laughing and dancing, although  
they were happy and giggling among themselves as they made new friends and  
caught up on old times.   
  
These two groups of people were hand chosen by Orions'Ka for a   
mission that they did not know of. They were different people with   
different past histories and ways of thinking. The had barely anything in  
common, except for the fact that they had faced many things to get to  
where they were today.   
  
Akane winced as she dropped back into the bed that she had been  
provided with. Bad thing was that the entire group had been bound into  
one room, them saying that they had many guests today, and that they   
would usually have two rooms, but this time they didn't. They apologized,  
and said that they did their best to accomidate Orions'Ka's visitors.  
  
Well, at least now they knew where they were.  
  
"This *sucks*," Akane was saying, her voice happily hoarse from the  
thick and milky drink that the villagers gave them, saying that the   
drink would give them some energy.  
  
"I agree." Ukyo was muttering with her head in a pillow. "I can't   
believe I'm sharing a room with so many people. And later so many boys."  
  
Akane could only nod, not caring that Ukyo couldn't see it. She was  
tired... but the drink gave her enough energy that she couldn't go to   
sleep. "We're lucky that only girls are here right now, though. The guys  
went to see some sort of dance on the other side of town."  
  
"Yes, we *know*." Came an annoyed voice to her left. "And some of  
us are trying to use that time to go to sleep!"  
  
Scully was groaning as she turned over. She was so *sore*! At the  
very least the villagers had provided a decent shower, some native   
clothing, and enough food to fill their stomachs. She was the oldest   
female in the group- and NEEDED to get a bit of sleep. She wasn't a   
teenager like the most of them.  
  
"Sorry," Ukyo murmured into her pillow.  
  
Akane only glared at her rival, then turned over to face Rei.  
"Hey," she said, daring to defy everyone. Just because they needed sleep  
didn't mean that she wasn't there, either! "Just how did you get here?"  
  
Rei only stared at her with wide, red eyes.  
  
Akane blinked, then turned over again. Okaaay. That was creepy.  
Maybe she should try talking to someone else. But Sam was halfway across  
the room and already asleep. Scully was mean, and Ukyo wasn't going to   
talk.  
  
Akane sighed, and then got to her feet, ignoring her aching joints.  
If there was nothing to do here, she would check out the dancing. It   
wasn't as if she wasn't sore, she was just so restless!  
  
Besides, there had to be something to do.  
  
"Hey, where are you going?" Ukyo was asking, her head still   
stuck on her pillow, though she had turned her head Akane's direction.  
She frowned. "You aren't be thinking of going out, are you?"  
  
Akane looked over at her. "It's not as if we're leaving at dawn   
tomorrow. Where are we to go, anyway? The villagers doesn't know anything  
about magical items, or nanban mirrors and there's no one who knows any  
magic around here. We might as well stay a few days. What's wrong with   
visiting a local dancing lesson?"  
  
Ukyo gave her a sleepy look, then turned her face back to her   
pillow. "Yeah, well, stay out of trouble, all right?"  
  
Akane fumed. Ukyo was starting to sound like her sisters! Head   
hung high, she hmphed and walked over the blankets towards the door. It  
wasn't as if something bad was going to happen tonight! There was nothing  
to worry about. And if she learned some dancing, then Ranma would have   
one less subject to tease her about.   
  
Besides, she had always wanted to learn to dance.  
  
***  
  
"It looks almost as if the sun is setting," Kagome observed as she   
stared up at the dark golden sun. She was sitting on the sidelines,   
cheering her friends on in the dance lesson. She had been dancing for an  
hour already before she called quits.   
  
"Only 'cause we're nearing the border!" Miigie was giggling as   
she watched other other two Guardians stumbling and fall. They were all  
very tired, but happy at the moment. None of them wanted the dance lesson  
to end.   
  
Miigie gave Kagome a smile. "Orions'Ka never revolves around a sun.  
Since it's the center of the universe, it has to stay right here. The   
sun also stays where it is, and never moves, like your sun. That makes   
one part of Orions'Ka eternally day and another part eternally night.   
We're on the very edge of the two parts, and this is where Orions'Ka   
always looks like sunset."  
  
Kagome's eyes never left the dark gold sky. "It's so pretty," she  
murmured, enchanted. She looked over by Shippo, who was sitting at her   
side, "Don't you think so, Shippo?"  
  
Shippo nodded, having not said a word in a while.  
  
Kagome frowned. This was strange. Usually Shippo would be starting  
up an argument with Inu-Yasha, who was also sitting on the sidelines,   
watching and scowling at the others.   
  
"Miigie," She asked, turning to the little purple-haired girl   
besides her. "Do you think there's magic here?"  
  
Miigie looked amused by her question. "Of course!"  
  
"Because... Shippo won't talk to me..."  
  
The little girl blinked a moment, and then looked over at Shippo.  
"Yo, Shippo, can you talk?"  
  
Shippo looked over at Miigie with wide eyes, then shook his head.  
His mouth were still shut, as if something had glued it together.  
  
Miigie grew worried. "Well, did you eat pink berries around here?  
There are some that are known to take your voice away for a few days.   
They're to by avoided around he-"  
  
Shippo was shaking his head violently.  
  
"O-kay." Kagome let out a breath. "Guess that's not the case."  
  
Miigie thought for a moment. "What about drinking water from Katid  
Lake? It's been known to numb your throat..."  
  
Shippo shook his head again, and looked at Kagome desparetly.  
  
"Well," Kagome said for him. "He hasn't been anywhere we haven't,  
and didn't eat anything that either didn't belong to us or we hadn't   
eaten already. I've thought it was strange that Shippo hadn't been   
talking, but he never told me what was wrong."  
  
A loud yelp was heard as one of the villagers fell on top of some   
crates, and some laughed loudly. Miigie ignored that as she tried to  
think of something that could be causing Shippo's silence.   
  
"Lime grass? Cursing trees?" She questioned. "Could he have stepped  
in something that he shouldn't have?"  
  
"Well..." Kagome thought back. "He stepped in some moss before.   
Could that be it?"  
  
"Hold on," Miigie said as she got up in search for Lass. "I'm not  
an expert on the native flora, but Lass knows just about everything when  
it comes to plant life on Orions'Ka. There's no strange moss that I know  
of..."  
  
Kagome looked after the girl, and sighed. "I don't suppose you   
would know, would you, Shippo?" She looked pleadingly at the small fox-  
demon. There was a shake from Shippo's head.  
  
"Oy! Miigie! Leggo! Ow, I was in the middle of a complicated move!"  
  
Kagome looked up to see Miigie dragging a grumbling Lass over to   
them. "Shippo caught something here," Miigie explained quickly. "He lost  
his voice. Kagome said that he stepped in some moss. Is there any magic  
moss around that I never knew of?"  
  
Lass winced and rubbed the place where Miigie had gripped her arm  
as they stopped in front of the two. "Not that I know of." she repled,  
echoing Miigie's earlier explination. "Most of the moss on Orions'Ka is  
normal, although there are a few that are used for herbs and healing,   
such as the Hisjog-Nin and the Sennog." Lass paused, trying to remember  
the lesson that most of the Mistresses had given her before she became  
a Guardian. "There are some moss that are the major ingrediant for a   
temperary love spell, but that only grows on the dark side."  
  
"Anything that can make Shippo lose his voice? Seal his mouth?   
Maybe a renegade witch on the prawl?" Kagome suggested.  
  
Lass scowled. "Renegade witches on Orions'Ka are very honorable   
and dependant. They make healing potions that can cure the deadlist   
diseases. They can bless people, or give them pain, but that they don't   
do unless their very happy or very angry. Our witches don't go around  
cursing people." she said slowly, pronoucning every word out carefully.  
  
Kagome sighed yet again. The things she didn't know.  
  
***  
  
Amiboshi was rushing through the trees, ignoring the calls of his  
new found friends. There was a sense of guilt so strong, that, it over-  
whelmed his senses to only apologizing to the person. Even if it was   
Tasuki, who would nearly never forgive him, he was apologize to that   
Suzaku Warrior until he forgave him.   
  
There was no way that he could not apologize. Five out of seven   
of the Suzaku Warriors had died because of his foolishness. Because he   
had ruined the summoning ceremony. There was no forgiveness in that.  
  
*Is the sky becoming darker?* he questioned himself, a thought  
wasn't wasn't rational in his mind.   
  
He wasn't a true Seiryuu Warrior and he knew it. Seiryuu must have  
been mistaken when he was chosen. All the other Warriors, even his twin  
brother Suboshi, had been in their own little world. A world that   
Amiboshi could not understand, no matter how hard he tried.   
  
Seiryuu. The God of War. The deity was everything that Amiboshi   
despised, yet he was a warrior to the God of War. He couldn't even   
really fight...  
  
Panting, Amiboshi broke through the last of the trees to see two   
people staring at him strangely. The two didn't look anything like a   
Suzaku Warrior, although they dressed like Rachel and Marco.   
  
He blinked at them strangely too, but heard Rachel and Marco   
calling out, catching up to him. They couldn't to get him yet. He had  
to apologize before anything else, and he didn't want to explain the   
feeling to them.   
  
"Issei? Sakura? Are you guys there?" Came a distinctlively female  
voice, although low and husky.  
  
Amiboshi bit his lip as he heard that voice. It was familar enough  
without him having to try and figure out who it was. There was only one   
of the Suzaku Warrior who could sound so much like a female.   
  
Nuriko appeared, wincing as he parted the branches that held the   
forest so densely together. He looked exactly the same, with the long  
purple braid falling behind him and the thin, petite frame that hid   
and illustioned a curvy figure. "Where are-"  
  
He froze, seeing Amiboshi.   
  
Amiboshi, knowing that Nuriko reconized him already, went down to   
his knees facing the older man. Nuriko had been the first to die in the  
quest to seeking the Shinzaho, murdered by Ashitare.  
  
Tears appeared in his eyes as he thought about it, about how Miaka  
had told him of Nuriko's death, that lonely look in her eyes that seemed  
to say she had lost a family member.   
  
Every single one of the Suzaku Warriors that had died, he had   
killed. Directly or not, it was of no matter. Because of him ruining the  
ceremony, the Warriors and their Miko were forced to search for the two  
Shinzahos that would be their only hope of summoning Suzaku.  
  
"Amiboshi!" There were light footsteps coming, and he saw the small  
feet as it approched. Oddly, there was no venom in Nuriko's voice, and   
a deep sincereity as Nuriko got down besides him, hands on his shoulders.  
  
He didn't look up at the other Warrior, shame burning in his chest.  
He had never killed before, sworn never to hurt unless the person had   
been threatening him or his brother.   
  
Yet, the Suzaku Warriors had been kind to him, taken him in as one  
of their own. In an effort to end all the wars that threatened Kotou, he  
had allowed Nakago to trick him, allowed his ears to believe that once  
he got rid of the Suzaku Warriors, then there would be peace in Kotou.  
  
"I-I'm sorry," He stammered out, voice ragged and raw.   
  
He could hear Rachel and Marco running out of the forest behind   
him and coming to a stop at the sight. Obviously, they knew when to not  
interfere.   
  
He heard a tired sigh from Nuriko. There was a slight breeze that  
passed by as the people in the clearing waited, giving the two their   
space but hoping for an explaination later.  
  
"It's not your fault, Amiboshi." Nuriko's quiet voice said. "I   
understand your motives when you did what you did."  
  
Confused, Amiboshi looked up to see Nuriko smiling at him slightly,  
his smile far away in a distant memory. The other boy's hazel eyes were  
sympathic, as if really understanding why he did it.  
  
"None of us really blamed you, not even Tasuki after a while. There  
was a reason in what you did, a good reason. We had all gotten to know   
you in the short time you were Chiriko, you we all realized that you   
were a good person. For you to have done something like that... there   
had to be a very good reason." Amiboshi hung his head again.  
  
Nuriko just smiled, forgetting the people around them and not  
discouraged by Amiboshi's guilt. "Besides... for a bad person, you sure  
feel guilty about all the small things you did wrong."  
  
*Huh?* Amiboshi blinked, and saw a smiling Nuriko in his vision,  
looking cheerful as he always did at the Konan palace.   
  
"So let's let bygones be bygones, ne? Start all over?" Nuriko   
sounded plenty hopeful, and Amiboshi was wondering how he never really   
noticed how forgiving Nuriko had really been before.  
  
"Ehh..." Amiboshi was almost at a loss for words. Then he gave a   
tentative smile. "Alright."  
  
***  
  
(NOTE: Did I say no more characters from past series? *shrug* I lied.   
Besides, if one wants to put Amiboshi in a story, the most interesting  
thing to do is add Suboshi in it! ^_^ No, I don't think Suboshi is evil,  
though I do think that he is a messed up kid. [But then, Amiboshi is too,  
in his own way.])  
  
Spoilers! Spoilers!! Those who haven't seen ep. 49, you have been warned.  
  
Suboshi couldn't help but growl as Tamahome ran through the crowded  
streets, trying to avoid the Ryuuseisui. No matter what he did, though,  
there was no way that Tamahome was going to escape- especially without  
his Suzaku powers.  
  
If the older boy was trying to create a distraction with the other  
people around, it wasn't working. Sure, Suboshi would never kill an   
innocent person (unless they threatened Yui-sama or his aniki), he was  
skilled enough with the Ryuuseisui to make it shift at his slightest   
command.  
  
A fueral grin appeared on his face as he heard the Suzaku no Miko  
call out for her beloved. This was what they deserved. For hurting the   
Lady Yui... for his brother.  
  
It was the Suzaku who started it all. If only they would just give  
up and DIE...  
  
Suboshi's grin grew as he saw Tamahome running his way. It was way  
too predicatable. Tamahome would try to kill Suboshi with his own weapon,  
by turning at the last minute. What kind of STUPID manuvre was that?!  
  
"Don't think you can get away that easily," Suboshi murmured as he  
prepared for the tactic Tamahome was using. "Do you think I'm *stupid*?"  
  
The anger in Tamahome's eyes seemed to give the reply.  
  
If it were any other person, Suboshi would have been more forgiving  
as his aniki had always told him to be. But Suzaku no Miko and her   
protecters deserved to DIE for what they had done to Yui-sama! They  
should be shown no mercy. (Funny, how different the twins are...)  
  
As Suboshi expected, Tamahome moved at the last second, making it  
hard to twist the Ryuuseisui out of the way at the last second.  
  
*Don't you dare underestimate me...* Suboshi thought just as he   
twisted the Ryuuseisui out of harm's way. The weapon went up straight in  
the air, and then-  
  
**FLASH**  
  
A green landscape with a dark golden sky. There was a village down  
in the clearing, with a lot of people. A fire was lit in the middle, and  
there were people laughing and dancing to their own off-key voices. A   
lot of people stumbled, but kept on going, laughing at themselves.  
  
There were people clapping their hands to the beat of whatever   
music was playing, and just enjoying the others' company. A woman with  
fiery red hair was leading the dance, doing her moves perfect unlike   
the others who followed her.  
  
He could feel danger lurking nearby, and there was no way that   
the one's in the village couldn't feel it also, yet they continued to   
laugh and dance, as if trying to ignore the evil.   
  
The people down there... all kinds of different people, joined   
together by joy. It was something that Suboshi knew his aniki would have  
loved to see, and it was something that warmed him too.  
  
All too soon there was a roar in the distance, a scream that turned  
the joy to fear. The dark golden sky didn't seem so warm and comforting  
anymore, but sharp and cold.   
  
Panic had spread throughout the villagers.... yet there was a large  
group, growing larger by the minute, that stood and faced the impending  
darkness. A group who dreaded being there, yet knew that they had to.  
  
Suboshi sensed the fear that radiated off them, and longed to help  
in the upcoming battle. If he could only draw on his Ryuuseisui there...  
  
PAIN.  
  
Unspeakable amounts of pain.  
  
Suboshi blinked rapidly as he fell to his knees. He was back in the   
dark streets again, with the crowds surrounding him. He could see Tama-  
home smirking in the darkness before him.   
  
His Ryuuseisui had fallen down hard behind him. This... this wasn't  
supposed to happen. He had twisted the Ryuuseisui up, into the sky. There  
was no way that... it wasn't possible.   
  
His hands met the hard, unforgiving ground as he clutched Yui-  
sama's ribbon. Of course, that was the only thing that kept him in that  
world.   
  
He watched dimmly as blood dripped down his shirt. He was supposed  
to avenge Yui-sama... yet...  
  
He could hear screams around him, just as he had in his vision.   
This world sure was pickly... queasy about one death. Yet... as Suboshi   
watched, he could already see his hand fading away. As Yui-sama had   
said, but he never believed... he was a character in a book.   
  
But if he was a character in a book that could only exist in the   
real world for a certain amount of time... then Tamahome would not be   
able to stay with his precious Suzaku no Miko either!   
  
"That's what you get," he heard Tamahome say softly, yet his a   
voice filled with venom. "For murdering my family."  
  
*No, Tamahome,* Suboshi thought bitterly. *You murdered mine.*  
  
Then it all went dark.  
  
***  
  
"Oy, Akane, what *are* you doing out here?" Ranma looked fairly   
annoyed, seeing that his time with people who *didn't* know him was up  
already. No one had really believed him when he had first proclaimed   
that he was a boy, (Or course, the cute lil' redheaded girl prevented   
them..) but after a nice hot shower in the village, the others could   
do nothing but gape.   
  
Of course, Ranma wanted them to get to know him before he told   
them anything else, judging on their expressions. He had enough of people  
trying to either marry or kill him. All he wanted was a nuetral friend.  
  
Akane gave her fiancee a glare. "What, I can't learn to dance?"  
  
"With legs as thick as yo-"  
  
BAM. Akane's mallet had settled itself on Ranma's head as she   
fumed. Why in the world was she to be stuck with such a jerk?! Of course,  
the thought about leaving Ranma never even occurred to her.  
  
"Will you two ever give each other a break?" Mulder asked, rolling  
his eyes at the scene. It wasn't as if he meant to have listened in to  
the two's arguing, but it was hard not to when he was standing right   
next to Akane. Sure, he was a bit nervous about Ranma after he explained  
his curse, but he also felt sorry for the kid. Life that like could be   
real tough.  
  
The two turned to him, and then looked sheepish. Mulder only gave  
them a grin. Oh yeah, those two loved each other no matter how much they  
denied it. Poor Ukyou... her heart would be broken.  
  
"Excuse me," Mulder looked up to see a young girl standing over him  
in a dark brown tunic. Her eyes seemed hopeful. "Would you like to dance?"  
  
Mulder gave the girl a smile. "I'm sorry, I don't really know how   
to dance like-"  
  
The girl only laughed, not discouraged. In fact, she then tugged on  
his arm. "No worry! The only person who really knows how to dance here is  
Mara. No one else knows... see?" she gestured to Kaworu, who was trying   
his best to keep up with a girl with long black hair. They were both   
laughing over it, and neither seemed embarressed.  
  
Mulder allowed a smirk at the scene, but relented. "Oh, what the   
hell... why not?"  
  
The girl gave him a bright smile and pulled him to his feet. "By  
the way, I'm Lass."  
  
Mulder allowed himself another smile. Ahh... poor girl. The young  
ones always got hit with school crushes. "Fox Mulder."  
  
Lass's smiled brightened even more, if that was possible. "Fox...  
an interesting name!"  
  
"As is one who's name means 'Lady'."  
  
Lass continued to pull him out on the floor, making Mulder feel a   
bit embarressed. But there *was* a lot of people there, so there was no  
way that they would be picked out of the crowd, right?  
  
"You know, you don't look like you're from around here." she said,  
gesturing to his suit. Although the villagers had provided a change of  
clothing for them, Mulder hadn't changed quite yet.  
  
"Actually, I don't really know where I'm at." Mulder admitted as   
Lass tried a twirl with little success. "My friends and I just appeared   
to be here together... and we don't know where we are."  
  
Lass's blue eyes narrowed, but she kept the smile on her face.   
"For one thing, you're on Orions'Ka. If you've never heard of it, that  
means you came from a different planet. And I mean that litterally.   
You are at Orions'Ka's border, between the Light and Dark days of the   
planet. Now what I want to know is how you got here." She moved into a   
difficult swave, not completely making it look graceful, but actually   
finishing the move some.  
  
"Well, I just... walked." Mulder pulled Lass up as she nearly   
tripped over someone else's skirt. He let out a chuckle as Lass gave the   
black haired girl a glare of death, with the girl grinning sheepishly   
back at her.  
  
"Walked, you say?" Lass looked thoughtful and she spun around him.  
"You mean you walked into a forest and ended up here?"  
  
"Exactly!" Mulder was starting to like the girl. Sure she had said  
that he was on another planet, but that was acceptable. Why? Because he  
had already spent about three hours arguing with the SG-1 team about   
being on another planet and they had won. Only because Scully hadn't   
backed him up. Only. "You seem to know a bit about this."  
  
Lass winced. "It's happened before. Lots of times, actually. I was  
just wondering why it was happening again now." She stopped a moment to   
push back her bangs. The music was slowing down... well, it wasn't really  
music. Just whatever the people decided to sing together. There was no  
other instruments except for the drumming fingers and the clapping of   
hands. She glanced around. "We need someone who can *really* play music."  
She commented.  
  
"Lass!"   
  
Mulder looked over Lass's head to see the black haired girl and   
Kaworu waving them over to a spot where some others sat.  
  
Lass groaned. Then she turned to him. "I'm sorry," she said,   
sounding sincere. "My friends are really annoying."  
  
Mulder only shrugged as she ran off.  
  
"Strange girl..." He murmured. But lively.  
  
***  
  
You-chan was frowning over something as she held her hair together  
in one hand. It was getting really hot, but there was no way that she   
could braid her hair together at the time.   
  
She waited till Lass was over until she looked up. The other girl  
seemed very annoyed. "Is that drool I see?" You-chan teased.  
  
Lass glared at her. "Oh, hush up. He's a very nice man, that's all.  
Unlike all the *boys* that you interact with."  
  
You-chan rolled her eyes, but got back to business. Kaworu was   
standing besides her, expression grim. You-chan had already explained  
the situation to him, and he hadn't liked it one bit.  
  
"There," You-chan pointed to a distant spot a few meters from them.  
There was a small patch of greenary there, in the shape of footsteps in  
the dark dirt. The patch was a bit pale, as if the grass hadn't been   
watered for some time, but then, at that area, everything around it were  
dirt and rocks.  
  
The impending sense of something important happening was hanging  
highly in the air.  
  
Lass scanned that area over. "So?" she asked. She wasn't the one   
who knew much about Orions'Ka's powers. She knew about the life there,   
but You-chan was the one who was the expert in the supernatural there.  
  
"Someone's going to be watching us." You-chan spoke, her voice   
dark. Her dark eyes scanned the horizon that was the Dark Day forest.  
"Either sometime in a few minutes or a few hours, there'll be someone   
there watching us." She bit her lip. "The unnatural grass means that   
someone has already seen the future of what happened her. By the   
small area of the grass, I'll say it's about thirty minutes in the   
future. It means something is going to happen."  
  
She turned to Kaworu. "Have you seen any of this before, Kaworu?"  
she asked, her voice suddenly turning sweet and her lips curved into a   
smile.   
  
Lass wanted nothing more than to strangle her friend. You-chan was  
a great help sometimes, but she was so absorbed into boys! Rolling her   
eyes, she restrained herself, setting her mind back on the situation at   
hand.  
  
Kaworu shook his head thoughtfully, not aware of the hearts in   
You-chan's eyes. "Humans calls events like this paranormal, is that not   
correct? Yet there has never been evidence of any of the following." He  
stayed silent for a moment, red eyes following the line of greenary into  
the distant trees. "Does that area not lead to where you want to go,   
You-chan?" He asked honestly.  
  
You-chan turned eyes back on the trail. She fumed for a moment,   
and then admitted, "You're right. It is." Her eyes followed up into the  
dark trees. "I'm starting to wonder if the Yajorai demons already know  
of where we're going."  
  
Lass also followed the look. Then, blinking, she pulled You-chan's  
sleeve. "Is that a person there?"  
  
There was a strange shadow overlapping the ones which were already  
placed by the large, dark trees and the looming runes. The border of   
Orions'Ka had always been covered with rune stones so that the traveler  
knew where he or she was going.   
  
You-chan's eyes narrowed to try and see past the human eye, with   
little success. "Not that I know of." she spoke, then turned away. The  
people there were starting to get tired, and the dancing lesson didn't   
hold as much people as it had half an hour ago. But there was still   
plenty of people around. "I don't think we should tell them yet. We   
should allow them some time to relax before the battle. They can't be   
allowed to panic so soon."  
  
"What if they panic later?" Lass asked, expression hard. "If they  
panic later, there would be enough distraction for the Yajorai to   
attack us."  
  
"Yet if they attack, the chosen ones of Orions'Ka would be well   
enough rested and the sense of heart won't be able to fear that much.  
If we allow time for that fear to grow, and spread, there will be no   
way that we would survive the attack."  
  
Lass only nodded as her eyes followed some of the group.   
  
You-chan turned to Kaworu and smiled. "Do you mind going ahead   
first, Kaworu?" she asked, her voice sweet. She gave him a winning smile.  
"There's something I'd like to see first."  
  
Her expression changed as she faced Lass. "I'll be back in a while,  
okay? I'm going to see if Orions'Ka has provided more help. We've   
already found a second group of people to help us, but I think that   
there's more still trapped away from the village."  
  
Lass scowled at her fellow Guardian, but nodded anyway. She moved  
towards Kaworu's side as You-chan stode into the Light Day forest, her  
moves calm, yet with a hurried sense.   
  
Really! Giving a boy goo-goo eyes while in a serious matter. Had  
she no brains at all? Lass was really starting to doubt it.  
  
As Lass turned to go back, she realized, what second group...?  
  
Meanwhile....  
  
You-chan walked as quickly as she could towards the brighter sun,  
shivering as she thought of the shadows. There was more to this mission  
that she knew of- she just hadn't told Lass yet. She knew that Lass was  
her Princess and that she should tell her everything, but You-chan   
couldn't help herself. She had been independant all her life, and there  
was no way that she could burden Lass with all that information.  
  
*Excuses, excuses,* she thought to herself. *Ever since Orions'Ka  
gave me Eternal, I've been full of excuses, haven't I?* there was a small  
sigh. *Guess I can't handle all that responisbility yet...*  
  
There was a noise around as she turned, and she eyed to bushes   
carefully. It wasn't as if she was scared that the bushes might come out  
and jump her... but there was something behind the bushes that that was   
talking.   
  
In fact, there was something behind the bushes that was laughing.  
  
A ear piercing sound broke above her, quiet yet loud in the silent  
land. She looked up to see a sort of bird flying in the open sky. That   
caused a frown considering that animals were very rare on the Light   
days.   
  
It was at that moment that she found herself surrounded.   
  
To the right of her were two boys who looked determined to take her  
on, one with a flute in hand and the other looked at her suspicously.  
On her left was a pretty lady with purple hair as well as a young boy.   
Behind her were two girls who seemed to set their glares on her.  
  
And before her... was that bird she had seen in the sky.   
  
She blinked. There was something about the group that told her she  
shouldn't be messing with them. Another chosen group?  
  
(Reader has to know that while a Guardian's power is almost   
unlimited, there was no way that a Guardian could take on so many magical  
people alone. No- she's no all-powerful.)  
  
"Who are you?" The blond girl behind her asked with a growl. "And  
why are you following us?"  
  
Following...? You-chan blinked, spreading her hands in peace.   
"I'm not following you." She said calmly. "I was walking through the  
woods when I heard a noise behind the bushes. I didn't even know there  
were people here." The last sentence was a lie... kinda. She had seen   
the bird and the thought that maybe there were more animals in the woods  
had flickered through her mind before.   
  
The blond girl's eyes narrowed. "I don't believe that."  
  
You-chan shrugged, her hands still up. "Don't believe me if you  
want. But ask your little bird friend if I've been following you. Birds  
have exceptional eyes."  
  
The blond girl's eyes widened, and then looked past her to the   
hawk. There her eyes rested for several moments, and then moved back to  
You-chan. "He says that you ventured from your village and followed us."  
  
"Did I?" You-chan thought for a moment. "I ventured from the   
village, yes, but I honestly didn't know there was anyone in the woods."  
  
"And why should we believe that?"   
  
You-chan shrugged. "I donno, I guess you'll just have to trust me.  
By the way, I'm You-chan, Mistress of Sleep and Guardian of Eternal."  
  
None of them even blinked at the title, although some looked to   
be a bit confused. This upset the girl a bit, but not much. If they   
didn't know her title then maybe they were another group...?  
  
One of the boys on her right, the blond one, seemed to relax a   
little even if he didn't reconize who she was. He gave a glance over to  
the blond girl to calm her down, one that You-chan pretended she didn't   
see. Then with a smile, he relaxed completely as said pleasently, "I'm  
sorry we were so suspicous, Miss You-chan." He spoke. "We were attacked  
eariler and didn't know whether you were here to ensure if we were dead  
or not."  
  
You-chan blinked. Well... attacks *would* make a person rather  
suspicous. Besides, this guy was cute... blondish-green hair with clear  
blue eyes. She smile back. He was nice too. "Well, I guess being attacked  
could do strange things to a person." Ooooh, *very* cute.  
  
Around her, people seemed to be relaxing a bit. Sure, it *could*   
be because she had encouraged Orions'Ka to put on a friendly atmosphere,  
but she wasn't going to be one to admit that!  
  
"You seem lost." She said, hoping to befriend them and ensure that  
they were the chosen ones. "There's a village, the one that I came from,  
just a few steps from here. Are you from that village?"  
  
The boy with blond hair sighed and shook his head. "I'm afraid not,  
Miss You-chan. We're all sort of lost here. All we know is that we're   
on a planet called Orions'Ka, which happens to be in the center of the   
universe... but if you live here, you'd know that." The boy seemed   
embarressed about his slip. The others had gathered into one group now,  
instead of surrounding her.   
  
She smiled, encouraging him to go on. This group seemed to know a   
lot more on Orions'Ka than all the other ones. "Well, I found two other  
groups that seemed lost too. Maybe you would all like to meet. You might  
all find a way to get back to your respective universes." She turned,   
and waved at them.  
  
"Oh, no." Another girl with brown hair and judging eyes said. "We're  
not following you that fast. You *might* not be an enemy, but we don't   
know if we can trust you yet."  
  
The boy besides gave her a nudge. "Sakura!" He hissed.  
  
You-chan ignored that. "You trusted the fact that I didn't follow  
you, right? You trusted that I might not be the enemy. What's one with  
adding one more to the list?"  
  
***  
  
"Just where in hell am I now?" Ryouga was muttering to himself. He  
had been wandering around for hours and hours, stopping only when he was  
too exhasted to go on. Luckily, he still had his pack with him and was  
able to get food and find fresh water on his ways.   
  
He was so tired, it was unlike him. It seemed that he had walked  
for about two days! But the sun hadn't even set yet. In fact, it stayed  
the same the entire time.   
  
He rubbed his eyes weaily. Well, it was nice to say that the sky  
*was* getting a lot darker. In fact, it looked to be nearly nighttime.  
  
A loud thump and a blue streak caused him to look just a bit   
further into the night. Sure, it was getting dark, but there were many   
ways to cover that. Ki was useful for many, many things.   
  
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Then he added, just for the sake of it,  
"If it's you Ranma, I'll kill you for leaving me behind!" Okay, so it   
couldn't have been Ranma with the cussing that left Ryouga wincing, but  
it was worth a shot anyway.   
  
The rustling of leaves stopped. "Who're you?" Came a growling   
voice. That area was strangely quiet now.  
  
"My name is Ryouga Hibiki." He was unconcerned as to who know his  
identity. It wasn't as if anyone could defeat him, after all. (No, he  
was trying not to think about Ranma. Besides, if Ranma would only fight  
fairly, Ryouga would win!) "Do you know where I am? I think I'm lost."  
  
The other person behind the shadows shifted. "Oh well..." Ryouga   
heard. Then he spoke up. "My name is Suboshi. I guess... I'm lost too."  
  
(Remember, Suboshi's still a kid, no matter what he's gone through.  
I really think that Amiboshi spoiled him _ but he's still innocent.)  
  
Ryouga was startled when he saw how young this Suboshi seemed.   
He had fair hair and blue eyes, and a blue headband on his forehead.   
The kid couldn't have been more than fifteen years old!  
  
Ryouga thought for a while. Suboshi... where had he heard that   
before? After a few short moments of thinking, Ryouga snapped his fingers.  
"Suboshi... isn't that a star constillation in China?"  
  
There was a short pause from the other boy. Suboshi seemed to   
sigh or something as the rustling of leaves was heard again.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
There was a bitterness in the other boy's voice that Ryouga found  
surprising. It was a bitterness he often heard in his own voice.   
  
Ryouga could only nod sympathically, hearing only the voice and not  
the answer that the other boy gave.  
  
***  
  
It was a scream that started it all.  
  
A roar in the distance did nothing but panic the poor villagers   
more. Things soon turned from laughter to shrieks, people running this   
way and that trying to find a more secure shelter than that the mere   
huts provided.   
  
"What's going on?" Daniel's voice a bit of an edge to it, his eyes  
wandering from the running people to the dark shapes that were coming   
from the trees.   
  
"*Ra-TISH!!*" Lass cursed loudly, then turned a bit red. But she   
continued to try and explain to the ones that hadn't heard the story   
yet. "Those are Yajorai demons. Very bad, eat souls for dinner. Hard to  
kill, and you have to BE CAREFUL." she glanced around. "Where in the   
darkest, fiery hell is You-chan?!"  
  
"There's two of them!" Luke informed the group. He was standing in  
front of the villagers, hoping to calm them down a bit. He turned his  
head over to Mara. "Now's the best time to put that plan to use, Mara!"  
  
(Yup, I *deliberatly* skipped some parts. You'll see.)  
  
Mara wasted no time answering Luke, although she did take some   
time to curse out a blue streak that made many of the adults try and   
cover the many children's ears. Didn't matter, since all the kids   
heard it anyway and was wincing.  
  
Two large borders lifted from the ground and slammed right into   
the approching shadows.  
  
There was a ear-piercing shriek from the demons drowning out all   
the screams from the villagers. For one second, the earth shook violently.  
  
Then the roars started again. The time was enough for most of the  
villagers to escape, though. The only ones besides the groups left were   
the ones that had fainted dead away.  
  
There was no smoke screen as the two black demons came charging  
into the light. They were about ten foot tall, with a disfigured body.   
The eyes were one the sides of the faces, like a dinosaur. The teeth   
were that of a T-rex.   
  
Then there were the large arms that were thicker than the legs.   
Each arm was bigger than the other in a random way. Their legs were   
nothing but a pile of goo that was so thin you could see the bones of  
the creature underneath the blackness of it all. The startling white was  
a stark contrast to the dark ooze that slimed down every inch of its  
body. There was black ooze left behind with each step the creature took.  
But the worst thing was the smell.  
  
It smelled like death.  
  
"That... *thing* dispatched those boulders like it were nothing!"  
Daniel sounded horrified. There were some people that were already   
clutching their stomachs. The smell alone was able to nausiate anyone and  
everyone. But the looks only added to it.  
  
One of the Yajorai lifted it's head and roared, the slime on the   
face dripping into its open mouth.  
  
At this point, even most of the guys were feeling sick.  
  
"That's it?" Inu-Yasha sounded unimpressed. He had jumped from  
the tree which he had been on to see what was happening. He gave a   
sideways glance to Lass, whose mouth was in a grim line both keeping   
from throwing up and keeping control. "Doesn't look like much."  
  
"Don't underestimate it, Inu-Yasha." Lass warned quietly. She   
looked around the group. "Does anyone here know how to create shields?"  
  
She watched as Kaworu stepped up, only giving her a nod. He looked  
reluctant, though. Giving him a slight shake of her head, she looked over  
the others. "Anyone else? Anyone at all?"   
  
The thing was, and Angel shield was nearly unbeatable... but she   
wanted the best chance as last resort so she would have the best back-  
up plan.  
  
"I can do a bit... but not much." Luke spoke up. His voice was   
sure as he said those words, his blue eyes never leaving the demon. "I  
haven't really had any experiance with shields, although I'm sure I can  
cover a few people."  
  
Lass nodded. That was okay, but she needed more. Out of everyone   
taht Orions'Ka had chosen, there had to be more with shields.  
  
When no one else answered, she was starting to go ballistic. No  
shields? How were they to fight the Yajorai without shields?!  
  
The demons themselves roared, as if reminding Lass that she was   
out of time. Damn. No shields. This was bad. "Okay. Let's see if we can  
make do with what we have." she directed the statement to Luke, who gave  
a small nod.  
  
"People armed with magic, fighting skills, and special techniques  
up in the front." Luke took over. "People with blasters... *guns* and   
other arms in the middle. Others in the back."  
  
He got a few blank stares, but the order was pretty much lined up  
within nanoseconds.  
  
Giving a few nods to Mara, Luke took a deep breath and stood in   
front of the group, taking the support from Mara, who only glared at him  
to tell him that he's better get through all right.  
  
Lass sighed, satisified for the moment. She gave Miigie a strange  
look, and glared at her.  
  
Miigie stood into the clearing ahead of Luke's shield.  
  
"Miigie...?" Luke asked, pushing back the urge to shove the little  
girl behind him. "You should really get behind me."  
  
"Don't worry, Mr. Skywalker." Miigie smiled cutely at him, bobbing   
her head to show off her curls. "I'm the first line of defense." The smile   
only brightened. "I'm testing the demons. We had this all planned out."  
  
No longer were the words said that the Yajorai waited no longer.  
They both charged at the people that remained like ramming bulls, roaring  
and shrieking fear in doubt into their hearts. Their limping run was   
scarier than if the run had been at full force.  
  
"Now, Miigie!" Lass shouted.  
  
Miigie closed her eyes, a feeling of sadness washing over her.   
She was weakest of the Guardians, with only illusions of happiness to   
support her. The first Guardians were strong... and they weren't able   
to survive the Yajorai... but it didn't matter.   
  
Taking a deep breath that took too much time already, Miigie   
concentrated hard, just has her twin sister had told her to before.   
Concentrated hard on tricking the Yajorai.  
  
A black illusion was the strongest of all illusions that those  
called Tricksters could do. Her own sister Maalia nearly had to sell  
her soul to learn the secret to that illusion, and had taught it to  
her little sister.  
  
Murmuring a few spells that were supposed to strengthen the   
mind, she concentrated. It had to be a place that was like home to  
the Yajorai demons, so that they would be startled. Concentrated   
on hiding the darkness of her own mind to nothing but a strand.   
Nothing except the landscape that she was visuallizing. There would  
be a strand of black silk to ensure that she didn't loose her mind  
while creating the illusion. If it got too strong, she would grab   
onto that black line that was her mind.  
  
She heard gasps from Kagome and Misty, and a few intakes of breath  
as well from the guys. Surely, the must be thinking, a little girl   
shouldn't be able to picture this...?  
  
In her mind, she could see the Yajorai demons stop, roaring as   
intense as ever. But the dark gold scenery had changed. What was once a  
comforting gold sky was now a burning crimson. What had been trees and   
grass were now nothing but dirt and rocks. The feeling of heat was in   
the air, a clastrophobic feeling that left many clasping at their   
throats. But it was the fog that she concentrated on. The fog so thick   
that the Yajorai couldn't see out of it. A fog so warm that they couldn't  
feel the others' body heat.  
  
She kept the fog up. Kept the hellish nightmare burning so that   
the monsters could keep roaring. Keep roaring and not hear them get away.  
Get away or attack.  
  
"Now, those who have powers, aim those powers at that patch of   
fog. Those with weapons are welcome to try and shoot." Miigie heard   
Lass's voice.   
  
It was hard keeping up the illusion. Very hard.   
  
Miigie took a deep breath, letting it out quickly. It was very,  
very hard to picture the landscape... something that existed only in  
her mind. It was so real to her... she felt as she was loosing her   
mind! Hurriedly, she grabbed onto the black strand. There was her mind.  
There was her sanity. But she mustn't keep that strand any longer.   
If the Yajorai saw that strand, they would be able to break free of   
the illusion. Then she could fail.  
  
She could see the lights of the magic behind her lids as the chosen  
ones tried their hidden weapons over and over.  
  
"What the hell?!" she heard Ranma shout. "It just absorbed my ki-  
blast!"  
  
"Pikachu's electric shock did nothing to it...?" Ash sounded   
shocked himself.  
  
"Well... phasers don't affect it." Tom sounded annoyed.  
  
"Guns, either!" Jack was getting angry. She heard the exact same  
grumbles coming from Mulder.  
  
"My arrow! Of all the things... I missed?!" Kagome was pissed.  
  
Listening to the voices arguing, Miigie allowed herself a tired  
smile. It was hard, not to fall for her own lie. Her power- to make  
what she imagined real... if she fell here, then the village would   
disappear... then this place would really become a nightmare. She   
had to keep up the illusion, but the strand of black was getting   
bigger and bigger with each thought that passed through her mind.  
  
Keep it up. Wait until the demons are hurt.  
  
Suddenly, the strand of black burst.  
  
"Miigie!! Look out!!!"  
  
***  
  
By this time, You-chan was running, trying to get back. Something  
had gone wrong. She was late...! What had happened? Had someone gotten  
hurt?  
  
She could feel the others running behind her, hear their foot-  
steps on the soft grass. The feeling of an illusion ahead was strong,   
meaning that Miigie had to be holding out for them.   
  
"Miigie!! Look out!!!"   
  
She burst out of the trees hearing Kagome screaming that. Just as   
she did, she could see Miigie being tossed away by the demons, crying   
out as she hit a nearby tree with a sickening crack.  
  
"Miigie!" she heard Akane cry in horror, running towards the little  
girl who was close to the shield, yet too far away.   
  
"Akane! Dammit!" Ranma was also running after her now, seperating  
the small group.  
  
You-chan took that time to take a small, glass ball from the pouch  
she kept at her hip. Concentrating on it, she held it in one hand and   
threw it in the air to catch it with the other hand.   
  
Now she had one in either hand.  
  
As the smaller demon ripped itself away from the other demon   
You-chan's anger grew. There was a scared scream as the demon spat out   
a lump of slime from its mouth and shot it at Akane, who could do nothing  
more than cover her face as the slime hit her.  
  
Akane screamed as the scolding hot slime hit her straight on.  
  
"DON'T TOUCH THEM!!!"  
  
She flung one of the glowing glass balls at the Yajorai, who, in  
shock, had turned to see who shouted that.  
  
As the ball flew towards the demon, everything in its path- grass,  
flowers, and anything else alive, all withered and died.   
  
Maybe the demon would have died too if her aim had been better.  
  
The demon screamed in rage as the glass ball hit it right on the   
left shoulder, tearing straight through and shattering after it hit a   
trees a hundred meters behind the demon, killing itself and that tree.  
  
The others watched in shock as the demon's arm fell off neatly,   
the slime moving to cover the wound back up.  
  
Throwing her glass ball in the air again, it once again duplicated.  
She aimed carefully this time, not to kill the demon because it would   
have been to easy, but slicing off the other arm as well.  
  
The Yajorai's enraged scream nearly shook the earth.  
  
It was then that Amiboshi made a mistake.  
  
***  
  
The Yajorai screamed with all its might, rage boiling through its  
veins. Who was this girl who dared to challenge them?! Weak!! All of   
them! They were nothing but prey... nothing but something the Yajorai   
were to feed off of. Kept alive only for eating.  
  
It needed energy. It needed a life force to feed. The arms were   
minor damage, but there would be more if it did not have the energy it  
needed to fight. The other was already cowering, waiting for the right  
moment to strike.   
  
There was a boy, a boy who now stood in front of the girl that   
had tore its arms off. A strange boy. A familiar boy.  
  
A sudden, familiar shrill filled the air.   
  
Pain!  
  
Pain and pleasure as the Yajorai took into itself the life energy   
that it needed to regenerate. Yes.... the sound continued on, and the   
Yajorai tapped into it as quickly as possible. The pain was overwhelming,  
but it was the energy that was needed.  
  
Besides... it was that boy again. The one who had given him the   
humiliation, yet the power. It was that boy which the Yajorai wanted to  
kill first. Wanted to devour first.  
  
Pull onto the strings of the notes. Make sure that the boy did not  
notice until it was too late. There were many ways to kill by draining   
the life force... many ways to force the connection to feed.  
  
The Yajorai roared, this time not in anger... but in pleasure.  
  
***  
  
Amiboshi felt a sudden tug on his flute, yet he kept playing. He   
had defeated the demon with his music before, he could again. It might   
give the others a headache for a while, but there was no time to warn   
them. He had to continue to play.  
  
Another tug on the flute. By now, Amiboshi felt as if he had poured  
his life and soul into the song, yet the demon was still not down! The  
demon was roaring, alright, but it didn't even sound like it was in   
pain! There had to be something wrong...  
  
Suddenly, the tugs didn't feel like they were on his flute anymore.  
He dropped to his knees, eyes wide and his flute falling down on the   
ground- forgotten.   
  
There was a dizziness... he felt like he hadn't the strength to   
breathe... the tugs now felt like they were on his soul, pulling his   
strength out.  
  
"Amiboshi!" Came the surprised yells of Rachel and Nuriko.   
  
He was dimmly aware of Nuriko pulling out a tree and flinging it   
at the demon, and Rachel going into a morph. There was a burning in his  
soul... he was so tired....   
  
He gasped as the tugs became even more insistant, and felt as if   
his heart had been pulled out and eaten. It hurt... dear Seiryuu, it   
hurt so much...  
  
Yet... there was a feeling that someone was lending him strength.  
Someone Amiboshi felt very close to....  
  
That was when he fell into his hands and his world blacked out.  
  
***  
  
Kagome gasped as one of the arms that You-chan blasted off started  
growing back right before her eyes. No way...!  
  
Her eyes wandered back to the poor boy who had been playing that   
flute of his to warn off the monster... her head was still drumming   
from the notes, and she hoped that the Yajorai's was too.   
  
But instead, it looked as if the Yajorai was pleased... the arm   
was almost completely back. It was a lighter shade of black than anywhere  
else, but the color was already starting to fill into the space. The   
other didn't seem to be coming back, but it was bad enough that one arm   
returned.  
  
"Oh, no," she heard Misty whisper besides her. "The Yajorai's   
going to slime that poor boy!"   
  
Kagome turned frantically to try and stop her friend. "Misty! No!"  
But Misty had already run off, her small back swinging behind her as   
she tried to reach the unconcious boy in time to try and help him.  
  
There was nothing Kagome could do but watch as she saw her new   
friend go down with the boy when the Yajorai spat out another patch of  
slime, the same one which was gluing Akane to the ground. Misty had   
caught most of the slime, but she couldn't prevent a lot of it to get on  
the boy.  
  
In the corner of her eye she could see Ranma trying to get Akane   
out of her own patch of slime with little success. She supposed that she   
could try and do the same thing to help her friend, but stopped as she  
saw the two boys, Ash and Brock, go and try and help Misty.   
  
Pulling out another arrow from the small pack on her back, she   
murmured, "Come on, Shippo. We'll try this one more time. And this time  
I *won't* miss!"  
  
She hurriedly picked up Shippo, who had shapeshifted into a pretty   
decent bow, and pulled back the string. Aim for the heart of this beast,  
she told herself. I have to get this.  
  
*Come on, Kikyou, I need you now... you're supposed to be the best  
when it comes to whatever you do with a bow and arrow! Give my some of   
your talent!*  
  
Off the arrow went, a low arc on the ground just like You-chan's   
glass balls. But instead of killed the plants as it went along, the   
arrowed glowed a bright, purifying light.  
  
*C'mon, Kikyou, I need you now...*  
  
The arrow flew over the grass field under the dark gold sky as it   
continued on its way... just a few inches from it's target and growing.  
  
*Oh no...* Kagome's dread grew. If the arrow kept seperating from   
its target, it would hit.... Miigie!  
  
*Oh, kama-sama, why are you doing this to me?!*  
  
At the last moment, the Yajorai decided to move... towards Miigie,  
perhaps to cover her in slime too.  
  
There was the loudest roar ever... and then a earth shaking thump.  
  
***  
  
Kagome's arrow... killed the demon?!  
  
Daniel couldn't believe his eyes. A last minute twitch made by   
the demon and... the arrow went straight through the head. The earth-  
quake the followed when the demon hit the ground was shattering, but   
very welcome.   
  
He let out a breath that he hadn't known himself to be holding,   
and then took a step towards the demon.  
  
Jack's hand on his arm restrained him.   
  
Daniel looked up questioningly, but Jack just shook his head and   
told him to wait until someone checked if the Yajorai was dead or not.  
  
"Sometimes, the bounce right back... you should know that,   
Daniel." Jack said. Teal'c nodded his agreement, silent as always.  
  
Daniel scowled. Trust Jack to be so overprotective.  
  
"Is it dead?"  
  
Daniel turned around to see Shinji behind him, peeking to see if   
the demon was dead or not with wide, frightened eyes.  
  
Daniel gave Shinji a reassuring smile. "I'm pretty sure, although   
you should stay here until they finish checking." He could see You-chan  
gaping at Kagome out of the corner of his eye.  
  
He frowned for a moment. Where was the other boy... Kaworu? They   
were usually together, but at the moment, Kaworu had been placed at the   
very front of the line. It made no sense unless the boy had some strange  
magical powers that Shinji did not.  
  
He turned and saw Lass waving at them. "It's dead!"  
  
Sighing deeply, he watched as Shinji ran to the very front of the   
line, tired of being in the very back.   
  
But something was knawing at the back of his mind. Something that   
adrenaline had caused him to forget. There was-  
  
"Shinji, look out!"  
  
Daniel ran as fast as he could towards the young boy, hoping to   
get there in time... Gods, how could he have forgotten such a thing?!  
  
The other Yajorai demon, who had been lurking the entire battle,   
had gotten very, very close to the small group that remained in position.  
The other demon, who had been way bigger than the one that they had just   
defeated. The other one, who had taken all their blasts and survived.  
  
"What the hell- Daniel!" Jack cried as he realized what a member  
of his team was trying to do. He made a grab for Daniel, but slipped   
as Daniel leaped to Shinji.  
  
Daniel leaped in time to cover the young boy from the blast of the   
slime, taking it all onto himself. But considering that if Shinji moved   
so much as an inch, he would also be covered in slime, it wasn't much  
help to either of them.  
  
***  
  
"Shinji!" Kaworu was running over immediantly ignoring the fact   
that he could also get trapped in a slime blast if he so much as moved.  
There were things more important than that little fact. A lot more   
important.  
  
He watched as Dr. Jackson lept in front of Shinji, taking the full  
blast of the slime. But it didn't completely protect Shinji, although   
it kept him from being covered with the slime.  
  
Coming to a stop above the trapped two, Kaworu reached out with   
his hands, but then withdrew at the last moment. If he touched that...  
demon slime... his hands clasped into fists. At the moment, it didn't  
really matter. What mattered was making the demon... pay.  
  
He turned and gave the Yajorai a definate glare. The others were   
finally aware of the second demon, and was trying their very best to   
defeat it once again. "You," He spoke softly, yet his voice filled with  
a hate which he himself didn't understand. "Will pay."  
  
A sudden gust of wind rolled down the plain, shaking the trees and  
blowing off plenty of healthy leaves.   
  
Within seconds, the AT Field that Kaworu generated could already  
be seen by the naked eye. The pale red shield that protected all those   
behind him, making a bubble around them... a bubble so complete that   
it blocked out everything.   
  
(Remember in ep. 24? The AT Field was so strong that it blocked   
out sub-atomic particles?)  
  
It was slowly expanding, too. The space that it touch were all   
bare. The plants weren't dead... they disappeared, perhaps burned off   
their existance.   
  
"You're not getting away!" You-chan shouted as she threw another   
glass ball at the demon. One which missed as the Yajorai turned, and   
slammed into the AT Field, dissolving away.   
  
The demon turned sharply, and started to run limply back into the  
dark side of Orions'Ka, passing a shocked Miigie who had just woken up.  
  
"Don't you dare!" You-chan threw yet another ball, which made the  
arm from the left elbow down explode in a barrade of slime.  
  
She had started to chase after the demon when a few sharp and   
startled cries drew her attention.  
  
"They're gone!" Sakura was saying, eyes wide and she dipped her   
hands into the slime heedessly searching for Amiboshi and Misty.  
  
The others were echoing her cry, and also searching for their   
lost friends.  
  
You-chan was in shock as she turned to face the dark forest again.  
The Yajorai had kidnapped the chosen ones.  
  
***  
  
"Hey, Suboshi!" Ryouga shouted as he saw something move dimmly in  
the night forest. He was glowing a dim blue so that he could see around  
him. Suboshi had been impressed before, and pleaded to Ryouga to teach   
him how to do that.  
  
The young, blond haired boy stopped in tending the fire. "Yes,  
Ryouga-san?"  
  
Ryouga frowned at the respectful tone, but didn't comment on that.  
"Did you see anything just now?"  
  
Suboshi shook his head, and then froze.   
  
Ryouga's frown grew to be concerned. Just a few minutes ago, the   
poor boy had fallen to the ground in exhastion, not knowing why. Perhaps  
he was getting ill.  
  
Then Suboshi pointed in a direction, and said in a hurry, "Ryouga-  
san, would you mind lighting that space up?"  
  
Ryouga was puzzled, "Sure, Suboshi." Turning that direction, he  
said in a quiet voice, "Shishi hokodan."  
  
The dark forest lit up for a moment with blue light, just enough   
for the two to see a limping demon running past. The demon was ugly as  
hell, but the things that caught their attention the most was the people  
that the demon was carrying.   
  
"Akane..."  
  
"Aniki...!"  
  
  
End Chapter 4  
  
To be continued... =) I'm evil, I know.  
  
  
  
Author's Mad Scribbles:  
  
It's eleven twenty at night... pretty good time for me to be   
finishing. Usually it's one or two in the morning... *yawn* Yes, I   
added Suboshi in. I just had to! I love *both* the twins. And why did  
I team Suboshi up with Ryouga? I donno, it just seemed... *right*.  
  
I'm sorry, all the grammer and spelling in this chapter might   
be a bit off, since I'm tired and can barely keep my eyes open...  
please email me to correct me if you'd like. It'd be nice having a   
beta reader for this story... the thing is, I have to beta read   
cause there's barely a few other people who's heard of all these   
series. It's tough, writing all those point-of-views.  
  
Hopefully, I surprised you by having Kagome kill the demon. =)  
As you can tell in the end, You-chan's power is limited. Kagome could  
do what she couldn't. Kaworu could scare the Yajorai away. She's not   
all perfect. It was just time up for her power.  
  
Hopefully, this series is starting to get interesting. But,   
first you want to know how Group one and two knows each other when   
they've only been at a dance together.   
  
Well... think of how Lass asked Mulder to dance. Simple inter-  
action. That, and talking to each other. All the group did was talk  
to each other. There were parts that I left out! Like when Luke and  
Lass planned on what to do first if the demons arrived, which they   
did.   
  
I'm tired, and I don't have a lot to say today... *yawn* Man,  
I still have to do my English Honors homework... *sigh*  
  
Translations:  
People!! The suffix '-chan' behind a name is usually used for either   
girls, people younger than you, or as an *endearment*. Just cause one   
person calls the other '-chan' doesn't mean the other is younger or a   
girl. (And no, You-chan doesn't count)  
Next off, '-kun' is used for people older, and for guys.  
Next! '-San' is a term of mild respect. You would use the word in greet-  
ing others, perhaps distant friends or strangers.  
'-Sama' isn't usually used. It is used to great great Lords or people in  
VERY high areas. Yui-sama means the 'Lady Yui'. VERY, VERY respected.  
'Miko' means priestess. Don't misunderstand. Yui-sama is the Priestess  
of Seiryuu, as Seiryuu no Miko.  
Last off, 'aniki'. *sweatdrop* For those who read Ranma, you'll know   
all of the above expect this. Aniki means 'Elder Brother' as endearment  
and respect. Yes, 'Oniisan' or 'Oniichan' also means older brother, but  
this term is used when the younger feels those words are too childish.  
AND, 'otooto-chan'. That, people, means younger brother. 'Nuff said.  
  
Until Next Time, ppl. 


	5. Orions'Ka, chapter 5

sitafire@hotmail.com  
  
"I wish some well-fed philosopher, whose meat and drink turn to gall within  
him; whose blood is ice, whose heart is iron; could have seen Oliver Twist  
cluthing at the dainty viands that the dog had neglected. I wish he could   
have witnessed the horrible avidity with which Oliver tore the bits asunder  
with all the ferocity of famine. There is only one thing I should like   
better; and that would be to see the Philosopher making the same sort of   
meal himself, with the same relish."  
--"Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens  
  
  
  
ORIONS'KA  
  
Chapter 5  
by: Shamera  
  
Any resemblance of a coharent thought had disappeared from the poor  
boys as they both saw people they loved being carted away by a demon-like  
creature. The thought that it was a trap never even occurred to them. All  
that mattered in their minds was to save their loved ones, get them away  
from that demon-like creature.  
  
The demon-like creature in question, of course, was the Yajorai. It  
stopped dead in its tracks as soon as it saw the light, and then turned  
towards the boys in pain staking slowness. With the body turned, the boys  
could now see that one of the arms was missing from elbow down. That was  
one advantage that they stored in their heads. But still, how were they  
supposed to fight somewhere so dark? It was something they were constantly  
being reminded of as they trapped over small things such as boulders and   
bushes.  
  
Suboshi gritted his teeth as he ran along as fast as he could behind  
Ryouga. What in the world was his aniki doing here?! It wasn't as if he   
were dead... Suboshi was sure that he had died before arriving at this   
point. He had also been sure that he left his aniki in a safe place... as  
safe as possible from the war.  
  
Upon his command, the Ryuuseisui appeared, spinning madly in the   
air, swirling around after him in anxiousness. The twin balls at the   
end of the rope were nearly out of control as Suboshi realized that his   
brother was unconcious.  
  
He watched Ryouga's back as they stumbled across the forest as   
fast as they could, hoping to reach their loved ones. Ryouga, who had   
been glowing as faint blue before, was now going onto an angry red. What  
matter of magic was that?! First the blue of Seiryuu, and now the red   
of Suzaku?  
  
The demon's eyes grew angry as it watched the two boys coming its   
way. Ryouga and Suboshi had no warning as the thing suddenly opened its  
mouth, and shot out a pile of black slime right towards them.  
  
"Shit!" It was Ryouga's instincts that reacted on time. "Shi shi   
hokodan!!!"  
  
A ball of red depression energy was thrown at the headed projectile,  
meeting it halfway. As the two connected, there was a second when the   
ki-blast had almost been sucked into the goo when it disappeared inside   
of the black. But within nanoseconds, the black ooze began to glow a   
strange red, and then exploded around the surrounding forest.  
  
The two boys dropped quickly and covered their heads, experiance   
saying that the black thing would do them no good if they touched it.   
  
By the time they scrambled back up, the demon was much further   
away... in fact, it seemed to be running away!! How were they supposed to  
win the fight and save the day if the demon creature was running away?  
  
"Hey!" Suboshi called, his anger now at its peak. "You aren't   
getting away from me!" Thrusting his right hand forward as he were   
throwing something, the Ryuuseisui darted through the trees seperating   
the space between the demon and the boys.   
  
The demon roared heavily as the Ryuuseisui stormed a hole through   
the chest. The sharp spinning blades at the end of the balls started   
melting a bit as it hit the slime, but soon stopped and sharpened itself  
again. (1)  
  
Waving the weapon back again, Suboshi smirked, not seeing Ryouga's   
horrified expression. There was nothing that would mess with a Seiryuu   
Warrior. Especially an angry one.   
  
But the unexpected came. After a full-blown stagger, the demon   
stood up again, the hole in the chest filled over by slime. It turned   
in the dark, stunning the two boys as it roared loudly into the night   
air. It was almost as if the night suddenly turned a few degrees colder.   
  
"No way!" Suboshi murmured, eyes wide. The Ryuuseisui had returned   
to him, and was hovering close by, waiting for its next command.   
  
Ryouga spared his companion a look. The boy hadn't looked that   
dangerous to him before... But he turned his attention to the one who was  
carting Akane away. What the hell had Ranma been doing? He was supposed   
to protect Akane! That jerk looked out for no one but himself...   
  
Focusing on that thought, Ryouga called up his ki again. Sure, he  
couldn't attack only with ki, since he had a limit himself, but he could  
still though a good amount, with his practices with Ranma.   
  
"Shi shi hokodan!" He shouted, shooting the small ball of red ki  
from his hands. Nodding with satisfaction, Ryouga's eyes trailed the ball  
as it exploded upon the demon.   
  
Imagine his face when he realized the same thing that Ranma did   
before... as his ki was sicked into the demon. (2)  
  
It was then the two boys realized that the first thing they had to  
do was chase this demon down.  
  
There was no hesitation as the two boys took off as fast as   
possible, in hopes with catching up to the fast-paced monster. Although   
they were lacked somewhat when it came to speed, they stembled no more in  
the past of the monster, since everything that the monster touched shriveled  
up and died.   
  
"Come back here with Akane, you slime!" Ryouga shouted. Being a   
bit desperate, he slamed his hand on the ground, not caring about losing   
speed anymore. If he were only focused on speed, he would be like Ranma.  
"Baksuai Tenketsu Reversed! Earth Dragon's Wrath! (3)"  
  
With that said, the ground beneath Ryouga exploded just like it   
would with the Baksuai Tentketsu, but instead of just ending there, the   
ground continued exploding in a wavy line towards the demon.   
  
Ryouga smirked. Well! How about that? Seems that Ranma wasn't the  
only one who could count on instints to help him in battle.   
  
Suboshi was staring on in awe, but not letting that stop him in   
the battle. The demon had stumbled, tripping its bony leg into the gap  
that had once been the earth. The moment of vulnerability was rare, both  
Ryouga and Suboshi knew that, having fought battles before a-many.   
  
The Yajorai roared loudly, struggling to loosen the hold the earth  
had on it. Turning its horrid head slightly to see the two boys, nothing   
more than children really, racing towards it with looks of vengence and   
hate on their faces. This did nothing but remind the Yajorai of its   
companion who had been demolished less than an hour ago. Killed by nothing   
but mere children.   
  
The earth, however, refused to let go of the grip that it had   
gained with Ryouga's attack. Even with the crumbling dirt that loosen every  
chance that the earth would hold, it refused to let go, trapping the demon  
all the way to the bone of the leg, which was now showing clearly through   
the slime and stained roughly with dirt.  
  
"Let aniki go!" Suboshi yelled as he came within meters of the   
monster which held his twin. Stopping at a reasonable distance, he willed   
his Ryuuseisui forward to encircle the creature before him, not to touch   
the slime, but to restain the monster there while Ryouga used his attacks.  
  
Noting what Suboshi was doing, Ryouga nodded to the other boy, and  
rushed forward, knowing that his attacks were better when they were closer.  
Bad thing was, with the demon all covered with slime, he wouldn't be able   
to attack first-handed.   
  
"Shi shi hokodan!" Ryouga shouted, letting the ki-blast slip from  
his fingers and releasing the bundle of depression that he always held.   
Every time he did that, he felt a little better, which wasn't good for the   
attack.  
  
The Yajorai roared as it used its disabled forearm to knock the   
glowing ball away. The blue blast went flying in a different direction,   
knocked finally into a tree nearby and blasting a hole through it.   
  
Ryouga startled. It knocked the blast away? Growling, Ryouga   
searched his mind for another attack that would not injure the people   
that seemed to be hitching a ride on the demon. Sure, he could outright   
attack the demons, but that would mean touching the demon slime, and from   
what he knew, that was a big no-no.   
  
Taking off about three bandanas, Ryouga smirked, watching as the   
demon continued to struggle against the earth and now the Ryuuseisui too.   
It remained helpless as the Ryuuseisui spun around it again and again,   
sometimes going in for a blow that would do nothing but annoy the monster.   
  
"Take this, slime!" Ryouga hissed as he threw the bandanas, taking  
more off with every second and throwing them. If the monster wanted to go  
up against his bandanas, he had an endless supply. Just let that monster   
keep coming.   
  
The the bandanas did nothing but slice through the flesh, doing no  
more (If not less) than what the Ryuuseisui was doing. The Yajorai screamed  
in pain, yes, but that was because the two Ryuuseisui balls also dug right  
into its eyes.   
  
It than began to spit out the slime it had spat out before randomly,  
perhaps hoping that it would hit something and take them out before they   
could do more damage to it.  
  
"Shit!"  
  
Ryouga looked back to see Suboshi staggering, his arm on a nearby   
tree to hold himself up. With a look of fury directed at the demon, Suboshi  
cocked his head to the side as he commanded the Ryuuseisui to sink its   
blades deeper into the eyes.   
  
"That thing is taking the energy it needs to fight from the people   
it has!" Suboshi explained, quickly dropping and rolling as the monster   
roared even louder and spat a ball of slime towards him. "It's taking their  
life-force to heal its own wounds!"   
  
Ryouga gaped, but didn't question how Suboshi knew this. Quickly   
realizing that all the damage that he did to this demon, Akane would   
suffer for it, he quickly stopped throwing his bandanas, cursing under his  
breath.  
  
Suboshi was still dodging, since the demon seemed to be aiming at   
him. His aniki was sinking deeper into the slime, and he couldn't do any-  
thing about it except attack the demon which seemed to hold Amiboshi   
hostage. But that would cause his aniki pain, too. Anything that caused his  
aniki pain, Suboshi would be affected by it in a distant way.   
  
Shutting his eyes tightly, and realizing that he had always known   
he would have to do this, just like aniki already did, Suboshi said a quick   
prayer for his gentle brother.   
  
'I'm sorry, aniki,' he thought with a mental sigh. Then, opening   
his eyes again with a fierce determination, he cut off his link with his   
brother. He couldn't take feeling the extra pain if he were to defeat the  
demon and get his twin back.   
  
Without stopping to feel the absense of feeling that left his mind  
numb, Suboshi got up after the last attack by the demon and took a defending  
stance. He had to remember that the demon was the cause of this. If he   
remembered that, he would be able to do anything.   
  
Knowing that Ryouga wouldn't attack now that the other boy know how  
the demon seemed to heal from everything single injury because of the   
innocent people it was carrying, Suboshi knew exactly how to hurt the   
monster the most. Sometimes, you had to hurt just a little to win. If the   
demon was healing at this rate, that must mean that...  
  
The Ryuuseisui that had been stuck in the Yajorai's eyes froze for   
a moment, making the demon growl slowly under its breath. But the demon   
had realized Suboshi's plan too late and was unable to stop the energy that  
it had harnessed to heal its injuries.  
  
"Gotcha," Suboshi murmured under his breath and narrowed his eyes,  
careful about the monster shooting out anymore of that slime. The trees   
surrounding him were now all dead, having done nothing but being touched   
by that slime.   
  
Within moments, the wound in the eyes were healed, gluing itself   
onto the Ryuuseisui, the flesh becoming a part of the cool metal and   
binding it to the back of the eyes.  
  
After Suboshi realized it was enough time, he starting spinning   
the Ryuuseisui as fast as he could.  
  
The demon SCREAMED. When the wound healed, the Ryuuseisui had been  
a part of his head because of being in there when the healing ended. Now   
instead of the balls feeling like nothing but an imposing weapon, it felt   
like it was grinding its head from the inside out.   
  
"Suboshi!" Ryouga cried, horrified as the blood came squirting   
out of the demon's head, seeing as the blood stained rope was digging   
deeper and deeper into the head. "Stop it!"  
  
Suboshi tried his best to ignore Ryouga. He was at a critical   
moment. He could either win this fight, or lose it if he lost concentration.  
Sure, aniki might be very weak when Suboshi got him back, but it would be  
better than nothing.   
  
Suddenly, fire ran up and down his arms. Suboshi gasped, dropping   
to the groud quickly, face first and unable to hold up his arms to stop   
himself. The Ryuuseisui slowed dramatically without the concentration.  
  
Looking up with deep hatred, Suboshi could see that the arm the   
demon had lost had regenerated, and was now using both heavy hands to try  
and tear out the metal balls that were still causing damage in its head.   
Amiboshi was nearly completely sunken into the slime, as were many other   
people, with nothing but dirty blond hair and a hand visible.   
  
It was impossible. He must be feeling just a portion of what   
Amiboshi would have been feeling had he been concious. But he had closed   
off the link with aniki! The only other person who could reopen that link  
was either himself or aniki...  
  
Somehow, Suboshi knew as he gritted his teeth against the pain and   
trying his very best to keep his concentration on the Ryuuseisui, the   
monster had managed to use Amiboshi's mind to reconnect the twins, and in  
doing so, gave Suboshi pain.  
  
Although Suboshi was steadily gaining on the demon when it came to  
damage, it was clear that he had lost the battle because of the moment.   
The demon seemed to smirk as it tore out the impending Ryuuseisui, Ryouga  
refusing to help in case it hurt his dear Akane more. He did not want   
Akane to feel pain and could not see that in order to win, sacrafices must   
sometimes be made.  
  
The Yajorai crushed the spinning Ryuuseisui, and threw it at the   
owner who was down on the ground, in pain. Smirking a bit, it slamed a   
claw at the groud which held it prisoner, breaking the earth.  
  
Ryouga refused to move, even in seeing his Akane disappear. He knew  
he would find her again, but at the moment, he couldn't help her because   
of how it would hurt her. He couldn't believe that Suboshi would still   
attack the creature even after knowing that it would hurt Akane. How dare   
he?! He was just like Ranma, that was for sure.   
  
Seeing that both boys were occupied, the Yajorai roared, and tossed  
back its head.  
  
Both boys cried out as a flash of light blinded them.  
  
Then it all went dark.  
  
***  
  
1. Suboshi's full power had been developed in OAV 1, when he called upon  
the Ryuuseisui even though nothing was there... like a subspace pocket,   
or using his own mind. That means that if he wants the blades to be   
sharp, it'll be sharp.  
  
2. Ryouga's blast did have more effect than Ranma's, since it somewhat   
stunned the demon. Why? Because Ryouga's attack is based on depression   
and Ranma's on confidence. Kinda like how You-chan's attack worked because  
it was based on death, and Kagome's because of purity.  
  
3. Yes, Ryouga can make up moves on the spot just like Ranma. But-  
Ranma's just a bit better than him.  
  
***  
  
"I can't believe you couldn't do it!"  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
You-chan's fingers were twitching as she packed, trying her very   
best to ignore Miigie behind her. Of course, she couldn't strangle the   
younger girl because of how Miigie had broken her right arm when she was  
flung at the tree, which meant for injury.  
  
Miigie was smirking widely as she sat in her cot, pretending to be  
oh-so-innocent. "All Kagome had to do was shoot an arrow at it-"  
  
"She's a priestess, it's a demon, alright?!" You-chan huffed. She  
was starting to really wonder about Kagome. She threw the last of her   
clothes into the bag fiercly and gave the cot a kick just for the heck of  
it. She was P. I. S. S. E. D.  
  
Miigie rolled her eyes as she swung her legs. "You're just angry   
because Kagome has more power than you, and she doesn't even know it."  
  
You-chan twitched, and gritted her teeth.  
  
***  
  
The girls of the formerly different groups were sitting at a large,   
round table talking about the previous events with the guys, who were   
standing a bit away to keep from the girls' wraths.  
  
"A demon?" Scully was skeptical, although her mood was a lot better  
than that of yesterday, considering that she had a full night's(Whatever)  
rest. She glared at Mulder, who was standing a few feet away from the   
table nervously.   
  
"I can't believe we lost so many people..." Sam was muttering,   
glaring at Jack, who was also trying to sneak away. "Daniel among them."  
  
"Look," Mara said, taking charge of the situation when she saw that  
Luke didn't look like he would be okay handling the girls' angers. "We've  
lost Akane, Amiboshi, Misty, Shinji, and Daniel." She held up a hand to  
prevent the words that were forming in everyone's minds.   
  
"We've also had a few injuries. Miigie broke her arm, Ranma, Sakura,  
and a few others have lost a lot of energy because of first-degree   
contact with the slime."  
  
At that Ranma and Sakura nodded, face a bit pale, but still attend-  
ing that meeting.   
  
"Last, all of us on the field *still* have a headache because of  
Amiboshi's music," she sounded pissed, and was rubbing her temples when  
she said it. A few murmurs of agreement rose. "But, it wasn't his fault   
since he was only trying to help." she directed the last statement at   
Nuriko and Rachel, who glared at her.  
  
"Our first priority now is to get those people back. Since we don't  
know *where* they are, we'll need some help on that. Lass?" Mara turned  
her head towards the small girl, who was deep in thought.  
  
"Well..." Lass said timidly. "We could find the Witches of the   
Dark Days and ask for help. They should have scying pools, to be able to  
see where the demons went and are headed. It could also help us on our  
journey to the bottom."  
  
"Okay, hold it." Ukyou said, spreading her hands on the wooden   
table. She looked doubtful of whatever Lass had been saying. "Whoever   
said that we would all go with you? So far, we only know that our friends  
are in trouble, and the demon appeared only when we met you." She casted  
a glare Lass's way, causing others to perk up at Ukyou's theory. "Why   
should we trust you to guide us?"  
  
"Because I'm one of the only ones who knows this place?" Lass tried,  
her patience also at its end. She pushed herself from the table, jolting  
the utensils on it. "Because the demons arrived only when YOU arrived on  
MY planet?" Her voice was growing louder and louder. "Or maybe because   
those are YOUR friends who need help?"  
  
"Maybe we can get our friends back WITHOUT your help!" Ukyou   
snapped back, also standing. "Whoever said we needed to go one whatever   
mission for your planet, anyway?! We'll get our friends back, and then   
we'll go home!"   
  
She looked around at the remains of what had been the former group  
2. "C'mon. We don't need them. We can do very well off by ourselves. If   
the demons were headed towards the so-called "Dark Days" then that's   
where we'll search. Then we'll find others to help us back home wherever  
we all come from."  
  
Ranma opened his mouth to say something, but shut it when Ukyou's   
glare went his way. It wasn't like Ukyou at all to be so hot-headed, but  
Ukyou was his best friend... and he would go with her.  
  
"Sorry, you guys," he apologized, getting up to follow Ukyou out of  
the room. "But we're finding Akane, and high-tailing it out of here."  
  
Lass gaped at Ranma, unable to believe that someone would follow   
Ukyou's commands to search blindly.   
  
"Sorry," murmured Tom, as he stood up too. The only reason that  
he was still there was because they had lost all contact with Voyager,   
and that he had befriended some of them. He pulled Harry up. "I don't   
think we can be of much use when it comes to mystical stuff."  
  
"Think I'll just look for a way home," Inu-Yasha interjected from  
a tree above the table. They looked up as he gazed down lazily, ears   
twitching. "Nice place, but not for staying."  
  
"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome shouted, not believing her ears. "I'm not   
leaving until I find Misty!"  
  
He shrugged. "Suit yourself."  
  
Now Kagome joined Lass in the gaping. There HAD to be something   
wrong here! No way that the original groups would split up- maybe the   
groups taht just met, but not that ones that had been together for a   
while already.   
  
"How in Orions'Ka do you think you can get home?" Lass shouted   
after them, her anger rising. "You don't know a *thing* about this planet,  
and what it's able to do! Don't think you can get home without our help!"  
  
A sudden "Pika!" startled Lass out of her sulking.  
  
She whirled around near the table to see Ash, holding Pikachu,   
looking a bit guilty and standing in the shadows behind her.   
  
"I'm sorry," he said when her glare went to him. "I really do want  
to help, but I don't think that I would be of any use against demons. I   
just hope we can get Misty back, and then maybe find a way home. It isn't  
as if I'm being stupid by going blindly, I just think we might have more  
of a chance seeking the help to get home than defeating those demons."  
  
Lass didn't have a chance to protest when Rachel did it for her.   
"That doesn't amount to anything!" Rachel steamed, her blue eyes flashing  
in anger less repressed than Lass's. "If we help Orions'Ka, then it would  
send us home. Personally, I fought to get here in the first place. I say  
we kick some demon ASS and then decide if we can do it or not!"  
  
"And Xena states her point," Marco muttered, in a gameshow way. He  
shrunk back when Rachel glared at him, though. "Just kidding. You're   
right, we should kick some ass before we decide if we can do it." He gave  
a sheepish smile. "Haven't been taken over be a demon. Just tired today."  
  
Ash was silent for a bit, as if deciding whether he wanted to help  
and risk everything he had, or leave without knowing if he could win.  
  
"Think of this as the Pokemon Finals," Brock encouraged from behind  
him, sitting on a log and holding Vulpix. "Do you want to win?"  
  
Ash hung his head. Decisions... Pikachu looked up at Ash, offering   
support for whatever decision was about to take place.  
  
"Think of Misty," Nuriko encouraged from where she sat. Focusing   
her large rose-purple eyes on him, she stared. "This is where you decide  
to add to your honor, or run away, satisfied with the way things might   
work out, never knowing of what could have happened. You need to decide   
if you're going to regret this later or not. You've been chosen."  
  
That was the last straw. Reluctantly, Ash nodded his head, and gave  
a small sigh of relief. Ukyou's offer was still *very* tempting though...  
  
Lass sighed. Good thing there were still people there to help her.  
She wouldn't admit to being a failure when it came to organizing people   
and plans, no matter how many mistakes she made.  
  
"Okay, then. We're decided. If we can get everything together as   
well as find lots of food and supplies, then we'll be off to the Dark   
Days in five hours." Hopefully in time to catch the Prophetical Moon, she  
didn't add.  
  
***  
  
Sakura sighed, having been silent throughout the meeting, barely   
listening to how people were seperating. Sure she was annoyed that she   
was stuck here, but she wasn't stupid enough to go venturing blindly in   
hopes to find a people who would know of a way home. With the stories   
that the villagers had told about travelers stuck here, their best chance  
at getting back would be to complete this mission.   
  
She stuffed an extra brownish outfit that the villagers had been   
kind enough to provide. Supplies were something that both she and Issei   
lacked, along with the rest of the group. But food she *could* provide,   
considering that she had been at the groceries before she was take away.  
  
Still, however much food that she had would not compair to how   
many people were also traveling. Sure, she would take all the food she   
had, but it'd be a heavy load. Who was able to carry all that, as well   
as their own small packs without feeling strain within a few hours? She  
couldn't possibly ask Issei to do it.  
  
Also stuffing her purse inside the pack, she gritted her teeth. It  
wasn't like she didn't like them, it was just that the people of Orions'  
Ka set her on edge. They were TOO kind! Providing all the people (which   
was a lot) with food, shelter, clothes, supplies, and packs enough for a   
few days' journey was a bit creepy. Scary thing was that they still didn't  
ask questions even after the demons attacked. It was as if the entire   
village was there just for their benefit.  
  
Not only that, but the villagers never questioned them. NEVER. It   
was... eerie. Sakura had expected a hard time trying to explain their   
presense to the already large two groups, but they were all just accepted  
without questions. From what Dana(Scully) had told her, the villagers   
hadn't questioned the first two groups either, just gave them food and   
shelter with a smile.  
  
She sighed again, tieing the strip of hide to close the bag. Sling-  
ing it over her shoulder, she picked up the paper bag that she had ever   
since she arrived on Orions'Ka. Should she just dump the contents into   
her pack? She did have enough room in there... but it would make the   
pack so much heavier with the canned goods and dried foods.   
  
Frowning while she stood there, thinking, she finally walked out   
of the room a minute later, with the pack over her shoulders and the   
bag in her arms.  
  
***  
  
Jack leaned against the frame of the door heavily. Everyone else   
was already outside, waiting as the few who were still inside, whether it  
be packing, talking, or wallowing in guilt.   
  
Okay, so he knew it wasn't really his fault... but Daniel had been  
right there, and slimed in front of him. For what seemed like the   
thousandth time. Each time, Daniel had to be so noble and get himself in  
to trouble! The kid couldn't even take care of himself, much less try   
and rescue someone else. That had already been figured out when he tried   
to rescue the Princess Shyla.   
  
Jack clentched his fists. It wasn't the first time that Daniel had  
unwillingly involved the entire team into something that they didn't   
want to be in. Jack sure didn't want to help save the universe. He just  
wanted to get his team home in one piece. That was all. It didn't seem  
too bad that he made friends here, but still, he wouldn't mind walking   
back to the Stargate, just to check if it was still there. Lass had said   
that it wouldn't appear again until the mission was completed, or they   
had been compermised.   
  
Not to mention, Carter was pissed at the team. She seemed to be   
pissed ever since she had woken up, no matter that she hadn't been in   
the fight with the demons. Demons, alright. Not the Goa'uld, but like   
real demons, even as far as looking like demons and smelling like demons.  
  
It was something that SG-1 wasn't used to. The closest to demons  
that they faced had been the Goa'ulds and the Umas. Not to mention their  
own personal demons... but that wasn't like this.   
  
The demon... the Yajorai, had dragged Daniel off between their   
grasps. Dragged him and several other people off to wherever the demon  
resided. To wherever and for whatever.   
  
Jack stood up straight up sharply. SG-1 wouldn't be of much use   
until the entire team was back in one piece and in once place. They had   
to get the team together before they could work at their best. That meant  
everyone were to get whoever back with them.   
  
If staying in this group meant that they would all work together  
to get Daniel back, Jack didn't see why he shouldn't help them. Sure,   
SG-1 didn't have magical attacks or knowladge of what they were doing,   
but they did have experiance, teamwork, instinct, and brains. Somehow, he   
knew that it would do just fine.  
  
***  
  
"Okay everyone," Mara called out into the mass of twenty-some   
people as they went into their own small groupies. She had on a brown   
oversuit and had her hair tied up into a thick, yet stylish, braid, curtesy   
of Nuriko.  
  
She frowned. This group was in the team together, all right, but they  
refused to work with each other. Sure, it had taken her some to go actually  
go up to some of them and just talk about whatever they had in common, but  
she had. They were all very nice, too. Nuriko had shared many strange   
adventures in his childhood, (Yes, she knew he was a man. Both she and   
Luke knew. They had asked him why he chose to decieve the remaining, but   
Nuriko had just shrugged and said that he wasn't decieving... he *was*   
wearing man's clothes, wasn't he? People just chose to judge on first   
impression.) You-chan seemed to be more serious than what people took her  
for, and Issei had been very sweet and polite, talking about his Moon   
Dreams.  
  
In order to win against the Yajorai, this group would have to learn  
to work together and start trusting each other. They didn't need any   
backstabbers here, especially in a time like this. She and Luke would have  
to somehow get everyone to have a chance to talk to everything and get to   
know each other. She knew that once they all knew each other, they would   
find out just how nice they all were.   
  
"I'm sorry about the judgement," she sid curtly, finally getting   
the large group's attention. "But we're going to have to pair you up for  
the day. Don't worry, if you don't like your partner, you'll be paired up   
with someone else after the next stop."  
  
There were a few groans, mostly from the children. The adults that   
were in the group just stared at her, mouth open and gaping.   
  
She ignored the furious look sent her way by the rest of the SG-1   
team. She knew that they wanted to stay a group, and would remain close   
to the other's side even with their partner. They would be the hardest to  
win over. A tightly-knit group wasn't ready to accept more people to trust.  
She knew that by experiance.  
  
"These pickings are at random, so don't let the blame rest on anyone.  
It's not their fault that you got paired up with them." That earned her a   
few good-natured chuckles from the children.   
  
Holding up a list, Mara started from the top. "Teal'c will be paired  
with Sakura-" There was a gag from Sakura which both Mara and Teal'c chose  
to ignore. "Mulder and Ash, Sam and Lass, Kaworu and Luke, Tobias and   
You-chan, Issei and Jack, Scully and Rei, Marco and Miigie, me and Nuriko,   
Rachel and Kagome, AND... last but not least, Shippo and Brock."  
  
"Hey!" A protest rang from the crowd. "This isn't fair!"  
  
"No one said anything about fair," Mara purred. She loved playing   
cold-hearted, even if she could feel Luke's disappointment and amusement   
at the edge of her mind. "This is all for your benefit."  
  
There were mumbles through the crowd of people, but they still paired  
up... more or less. Sure, they all stayed close to their friends, which   
made the group much smaller and more secure, which was something that Mara  
had not counted on, but was a definate plus.  
  
She shook her head as she walked over towards Nuriko, who was wearing   
a loose blue-ish jumpsuit which starked in contrast to his pale skin.   
  
"People nowadays," She muttered, loud enough so that Nuriko heard.   
"I just don't know about their social skills."  
  
Nuriko grinned, hands in pockets. "I heard that you used to hang   
loose yourself, Mara," he spoke, "What changed?"  
  
Mara mock glared at Nuriko, but then broke out into a small smile.   
The thing about Nuriko is that you could just never really get angry at   
him, no matter what he said and in what way. "Oh, I don't know. A few years  
time to allow me to think, I guess." she shrugged, shouldering her bag at  
the same time. The group of people looked like they were just about ready   
to leave already.  
  
"Well, if it helps, I used to be kind of anti-social also."  
  
Mara leaned away from the young man. "You? Mr. Genki?"  
  
Nuriko grimaced. "I am NOT genki. I just happen to like being   
cheerful. Miaka is genki."  
  
Mara rolled her eyes, walking after Sakura and Teal'c. Nuriko stode   
cheerifully besides her, a smile on his face- but NOT one that looked   
genki.  
  
"What's wrong with being genki?" Mara said, offended. She didn't   
care that Sakura was looking over her shoulder to see what the conversation  
was about, actually hoping that she might join in. "It's not bad. A lot of   
people are genki."  
  
"Would you like someone calling *you* genki?" Nuriko asked, eyebrow  
raised.  
  
"Well... no." Mara stated flatly. She was quick-tempered, moody,   
always on PMS and PROUD of it. "Everyone acts genki sometimes, though."  
  
"Yeah, but that's either Miaka or a person on suger high."   
  
Mara laughed.   
  
Teal'c was also looking their way curiously.   
  
"I do not understand this term... 'genki'." he said, frowning. Mara  
and Nuriko just looked over at him and smiled. The entire point of the   
conversation was to have other people joining in.   
  
"Genki? It means hyper, cheerful, optimistic, bouncy, and cute all   
rolled into one." Nuriko replied with a grin. "It basically means that   
you're in a good mood no matter WHAT." He paused. "That sounds like a   
description for 'dopey.'"  
  
Sakura couldn't help it. She burst out laughing when Nuriko said   
that, then turned red as some stares were directed her way. Hiding her face  
in the brown paper bag that she was carrying, Sakura's temper flamed up   
again.   
  
Mara smiled at her, not staring. "There." She said quietly, directing  
her words at Sakura. "You have to know that we're not all demons ourselves.  
We are here to talk to you."  
  
Sakura looked at Mara for a moment, trying to decipher what she   
meant. Then she looked over at Nuriko, who was giving her an encouraging   
smile. Finally, Teal'c, who looked grim like he always did.   
  
"We're just trying to make conversation." Nuriko explained. "Maybe   
we can be friends."  
  
Sakura sighed mentally as she looked at the hopeful expression on   
Nuriko's face. Oh, why not. If she was seperating from Issei, which meant   
no one to talk to, she could might as well make some few friends.  
  
"Actually," she said suddenly. "You don't know 'genki' until you've  
met my friend Kaneda. He is *sooooo* happy all the time, and you never..."  
  
Nuriko and Mara just smiled as Teal'c looked interested.  
  
***  
  
Luke and Kaworu were at the beginning of the line, besides Sam and   
Lass with Tobias and You-chan. Sure, they were supposed to be going in a   
line, but who cared? They had already been paired off, and You-chan seemed  
kind of grim with just a very quiet hawk to talk to.  
  
Luke and Kaworu were talking peacefully, each about life and beyond.  
They were discussing in great detail on what they had learned about the   
mysteries of life and compairing notes on each and every experiance they   
had that seemed familiar.  
  
You-chan was trying to join in the conversation since Tobias was   
flying high in the sky, but had no clue what the two were talking about   
when it came to the meaning of life.   
  
Lass and Sam were treading behind, Lass occation pointing out a   
certain landmark where they had to turn, or a place that she remembered.  
  
It was getting to be very dark. The dark golden sky had turned a   
blackish blue just like back on Earth, and the stars were shining faintly  
in the sky. The group huddled close together in order not to get lost, and   
there were five laterns that were hung at the outer circles.   
  
You-chan was holding a latern up front, so that Luke, Kaworu, and   
Lass could see exactly where they were going. The rest of the laterns were   
so that the group could see each other and a few feet ahead of them.   
Jack, who was herding from the back and making sure that no one got left   
behind, had a latern. Rachel took up the entire left side of the circle,   
Brock had the front right side, and Mulder took up the back right.  
  
Everyone else was somewhere in the middle, with four people already  
lowering their defenses and starting to talk and joke among themselves.   
That was good. It meant that they were finally starting to get along. If   
they were to have another fight like they had just three hours ago...   
then this time they might make it all together. If they didn't, their   
group would be divided yet again... and then their strength in numbers   
would be completely gone.   
  
Sam sighed quietly. She hadn't been too impressed by Lass earlier,   
but knowing what someone could do when they were tired, frantic, and losing.  
But still... Lass didn't have the skills to be up as leader yet, so why   
were Luke and Mara still letting her make the decisions. Sure, she knew   
that the planet belonged to Lass, since she was the Princess, but she was   
also still a child. Barely in the middle of her teenaged years.  
  
Lass spared Sam a glance. "I know what you're thinking." she said   
quietly to the other girl.  
  
Sam looked up, a bit flustered. "Oh?" she asked, keeping her voice   
uninterested.   
  
"I'm not as young as you think."  
  
Sam glanced at Lass again. The girl with the white dress was staring   
straight ahead, looking for anything familiar in the woods and generally   
trying to ignore Sam's stare.  
  
"Then, prey tell, how old are you?" Sam asked, curiousity urked. She  
had been very interested in You-chan's abilities to cause all the plants   
to die whenever she got mad (Which no one else had really noticed yet,   
and it told Sam not to get You-chan mad...) and also the glass balls that  
killed everything as it shot past. She had made You-chan give her a   
demonstration on that, as well as Miigie working a small illusion (which   
Miigie insisted she would make a rose, for some reason).  
  
Lass kept her attention straight ahead, as if she hadn't heard Sam.  
But her eyes seemed sad. "Old enough to know that responsibilities can be  
a real pain." Lass turned her head towards Sam, having to look up. "I know  
I really blew up back there, and it costed us a lot of people. I know that  
what I did was wrong, and-" she just shook her head when Sam opened her   
mouth to tell the smaller girl that she didn't *care*...  
  
Lass's eyes turned back into the darkness surrounding them. "I know,"  
she spoke, her voice soft. "That what I did could cause us victory on the   
Yajorai. It's not as if I don't care. I do. Orions'Ka saved me before...   
it is my life. I'm only grateful that Orions'Ka doesn't choose another   
leader because of my wrong decisions. I do try my hardest."  
  
Sam fell silent as Lass's voice ended with a whisper. The people   
behind them were talking happily now, getting to know each other and finding  
new friends all around. But the people before them were now silent out of  
respect to the two's conversation.  
  
"Sometimes I think that I'm not suited for this job. That everything   
I say comes out wrong, every command I give leads to failure." Lass's eyes  
trailed behind You-chan's swinging light, leading the way for the people.   
"It wasn't long ago when I learned that if I kept thinking like that... I   
would lose everything. I had to try, at the very least. Failure was an   
option... as was success. I learned that I as I kept winning, I would also  
keep losing.  
  
"I now know that if I want to continue to win, I have to accept my   
failures and move on, seeking a way to learn something from it. I will not  
wallow in despair because of my mistake." Lass looked up at Sam again, this  
time smiling. "I'll make up for what I did wrong. You'll see."  
  
Sam remained silent. Not young, huh? Well, she still seemed to have   
the innocence and determination of a youth.  
  
Even if it was all well beyond her years.  
  
***  
  
Jack winced as he switched the metal latern into another hand. Sure,  
he could just take out the flares... but he might need if for some other   
time. The metal sure was heavy after a while, unlike the plastic laterns  
that they were making back home now.   
  
The forest was completely dark, but not silent like it was when it   
had been day. Now, the forest seemed to come alive with chirping and happy  
cawing. The forest was black in the night, but the creatures certainly   
didn't seem down in the least bit.  
  
Jack stole a glance at the teenaged boy who had been paired with him.  
Issei was quiet... very quiet, unlike the people Jack was used to. Daniel,  
Ranma... at a point, even Kaworu! Shinji didn't count, though, since he   
had en excuse to stay quiet. He had been injured.  
  
"Issei?" Jack asked, letting the strange name roll off his tongue.  
  
The young boy looked up with a question in his eyes, eyes that were   
far more peaceful and old then normal boys.  
  
Jack thought back to what Issei had told the group about his Moon   
Dreams, since Sakura seemed unwilling to talk. He had been reincarnated,   
which explained the old look. But Issei had merely pointed out who was who  
in his dreams, and who had been reincarnated as who. Mostly, he talked   
about the love triangle that Mokuran, Shion, and Gyokuran had. He had also   
hinted that Shakkaido had also been in love with Mokuran, which made the   
girls more interested in the story.  
  
But all in all, he didn't talk about himself in the dreams, only   
saying that he had been an anthropologist.  
  
Maybe that was why he seemed to look as uncertain as Danny to Jack.  
But even Daniel didn't have that sadness in his eyes all the time.   
  
Jack swallowed before continuing, knowing that he was now going to   
intrude on the boy's privacy. "You've never really talked about yourself   
in the dreams... do you want to talk about it?"  
  
The teenaged boy looked away from Jack, blue eyes now focused on Rei's  
back. He breathed out a sigh, which Jack expected.  
  
"...No."   
  
Jack blinked. "No?" He asked, not really believing the answer. Well,   
duh, no! He thought back. Daniel had also been like this. Poor kid was   
completely unresponsive after a big incident.  
  
"I'm sorry, sir," Issei said, his eyes still turned away yet betraying  
nothing. "There are things that I try my very best to forget."  
  
"But you talk about your Moon Dreams," Jack said with a small smile,   
hoping to coax the boy out. It was what he did best, after all. "You   
certainly can't forget the most vital character in the dreams, can you?"  
  
"In fact, I can." Issei said flatly, his voice still giving out a   
repectful tone which was now grinding on Jack's nerves. "In my dreams,   
Mokuran seemed to be running the whole show. I was merely standing in the   
shadows. I can easily forget."  
  
Jack was now starting to get concerned. Had something happened to   
the poor boy that he now was trying to repress that memory?  
  
"It seemed that every male except for you and Hiragi was in love with  
Mokuran. Hiragi I can expect because of the leader part." Which I know all  
too well. "But what about you? From what you said, she was a real babe."  
  
Issei's jaw tightened. "I have my reasons."  
  
"Unless..." Jack teased. "You were in love too but was unwilling to   
put yourself in the story!"  
  
Issei just remained silent. He then started walking a liitle faster.  
His voice sounded choked when he said, "Maybe, maybe not."  
  
***  
  
"I have to say, the air is very refreshing." Brock said as he held   
Shippo instead of Kagome. Somehow, after the talk with Kagome and Miigie,   
Shippo had gotten his voice back. No one knew why and no one knew how,   
but they weren't complaining. A bit susicious, but not complaining.   
  
"I don't know..." Shippo drawled out with a narrow look. He was   
sniffing the air, knowing that since he was the only demon in the group,  
he might be able to smell out the Yajorai. "It doesn't seem too clean."  
He wrinkled his nose as he turned his face away from the smell of a   
unwashed animal.  
  
Brock laughed. "Well, I think that's the beauty of it." He said   
simply. "There's nothing here but nature. All the smells of nature, good   
and bad. There's no smoke or any tiniest smell of pollution to cover that."  
  
Shippo just looked a little questionable.  
  
"Yeah, well, kiddo," Marco said from where he was standing next to   
Miigie, slowing down just a bit so that she could catch up with her   
shorter legs, even though they were already around the back. "Just for the   
heck of it, I agree with you. I'd rather have the smell of a pizza around   
instead of animal droppings."  
  
Shippo grinned.   
  
"I... still..." Miigie was saying between steps, not breathless, oh   
no, of *course* not breathless... "Think you're... going... way! Too...   
Fast..."  
  
Marco looked down in pity at the little girl that barely went up to  
his ribs. And he thought he was short! With that thought, he slowed down   
just a little tiny bit more, enough so that Miigie won't have such a hard  
time yet they wouldn't fall behind to Jack.  
  
"I *do* hope that you know when you have to carry Miigie." Rachel   
said sarcastically as she held up at the very left side of the group.   
Kagome was standing besides her, but everyone else was close enough. She   
was carrying the latern high above her head with her left hand, testing how  
long her muscles would hold out without getting cramps later. She rolled   
her eyes. "I feel sorry for the girl, to be paired up with you."  
  
Marco didn't take offense in her statement, in fact, he grinned   
widely as he heard that. "Well, Xena, I guess the no-go action must have   
made you felt more than a little couped up, eh?" He gave a wink.  
  
Rachel just looked away, forening disgust.   
  
"Oh, please." she said.  
  
"I don't suppose you two could just give up the arguing?" Kagome   
asked tiredly. She was annoyed now that Shippo was taken away, and Rachel  
seemed like a nice person to talk to, if she hadn't had interests that   
were all completely different than hers.  
  
"We're not arguing." Marco shot back. "We're conversing."  
  
Kagome heaved a sigh. "Whatever." She took a few steps forward, and   
then paused in thought.  
  
Rachel also stopped when she saw that her partner had stopped.   
  
"What is it, Kagome?" She asked, curious at the girl who was holding   
her head down like that.  
  
Kagome gave a small sigh and then resumed walking, much to Rachel's   
relief. "Nothing. It's just... Inu-Yasha. He's never act so rash before.   
It's a whole new side of him that I never saw before."  
  
Rachel gave the poor girl a sympathetic look. "There's always a side  
to guys that girls never see. He's probably just beed pretending to be nice  
all this time..."  
  
"I don't think so." Kagome interrupted, still in thought. "He really  
is very nice if you get to know him. It's just that... well, his attitude  
usually prevents someone from liking him much before they know him. And   
first impression are hard to shake off."  
  
"Oh?" Rachel returned slyly, giving the other girl a grin. "So what  
was your first impression of him?"  
  
Kagome gave a soft laugh, just something of the moment. "I'm not the  
one to say." she responded dryly. "But it hadn't been a good one."  
  
***  
  
Scully gave a weary look to the blue-haired girl that had been   
assigned as her partner for the day. Hopefully, AFTER the day, she would   
get to go back into the small group that she had been with before. She   
found them more comforting then these new people.   
  
Well... Rei HAD been with the old group before, so Scully wasn't   
expecting much from the young girl whom she knew would be silent the entire  
trip by experiance.   
  
She looked over by Mulder, who wasn't too far away since he was   
holding the latern for the back right side. He, walking a bit to the side  
but still before Issei and Jack, had also been pondering over what Issei   
had meant in his short monologue. It seemed that the boy had gotten every-  
one, not just the girls, interested in his past life and what he did.   
  
Ash was walking quickly alongside them, only because he had been   
paired up with Mulder. Pikachu looked like he was sleeping on Ash's head.  
Out of all the people, only Ash had retained and still wore the same out-  
fit. It was okay, Scully guessed, since the villagers had already washed   
it for him in the village.   
  
But still, everyone else wore the dark oversuit. The colors were   
either brown (which was the most common) dark green, dark blue, violet,   
black, or dark red (of which only You-chan was wearing).   
  
Scully sighed mentally as she stared straight ahead to where they   
were heading. She was still very skeptic about most of the things that   
the three Orions'Ka girls had talked about... and she hadn't seen the   
Yajorai yet to boot.   
  
But with You-chan and Miigie demonstrating their powers for Sam, she  
had to say... it was very believing. Out of all of them, she was the one   
that had the hardest time believing demons and magic and everything else.   
Everyone else (the children ESPECIALLY) didn't really give much thought to  
it, as if they had seen things like that happen nearly everyday.   
  
Okay, so they were that accepting. But after a quick explination, they  
all calmed down enough to fight the Yajorai, or so she had been told.  
  
Perhaps the reason that she disbelieved was because of how quickly   
everyone else believed. She wanted to be the one that could say she was   
the only one who did not fall into any illusions or traps. But she did not   
want to be the one, the only one, who was wrong about not believing either.  
  
It was hard to think about, it really was. They seemed to be the only  
two groups around the middle that weren't talking. They were all just   
walking peacefully, nobody wanting to start up the conversation.   
  
Besides, Scully didn't feel like talking at the moment. It was the   
air that Orions'Ka had that made you either start talking, or feel too   
tired to do so.   
  
But now, with the gloomy atmosphere and the dark surroundings, all   
combined with the noises of the night, made the scenery too beautiful. So   
beautiful and otherworldly that Scully expected vampires and werewolves to  
jump right out.   
  
Somehow, she had expected the ghosts.  
  
***  
  
Shinji slowly opened his eyes as his senses returned. He was sooo   
tired... but he already had a headache for sleeping so much. Misato would  
just tell him that it was his own fault, though, that he kept on sleeping.  
It wasn't really his fault... it was usually Misato who slept a lot, not  
him. He just couldn't remember what happened before...  
  
As if fate responding to his unasked question, he suddenly saw the   
black slime that was dripping down his hair.  
  
Eyes widening within moments, Shinji nearly forgot how to breathe   
as he remembered the battle with the Yajorai demons... the battle with the  
Eighteenth Angel, how he ended up on Orions'Ka, the Yajorai shooting out   
that ball of slime...  
  
Shinji sank into a small depression as he remembered how Daniel had   
saved him by the slime by getting himself covered in the process. Somehow,  
even without being hit full-force by the boiling slime, he had been   
kidnapped by the Yajorai.  
  
Oh, hurray.  
  
How did he always get into these situations? But... he still had to  
think of a way out. Stealing a quick glance around him, Shinji saw Daniel,  
Misty, Akane, and the boy who had been playing that flute... all of who   
were knocked out cold.   
  
So why had he been the first one to waken? Shinji mentally shook his  
head, scolding himself for worrying about things so trivial. They were all  
covered in the black slime, so they must have all been slimed, and kid-  
napped just like him.   
  
Hearing a soft movement on his left, Shinji twitched his eyes over,   
his face still not leaving the dirty, slime-covered ground. It was all   
stone, really, the ground, walls, and ceiling. They must have been taken   
to a cave somewhere.   
  
Akane was starting to wake up. She was making noiseless mutterings   
into the stone floor, her body shifting.  
  
Shinji paniced. He had to somehow get Akane to settle down of the   
Yajorai would come! He still haven't thought of a way out nor had found   
the right time. If she wakes up and the demons notice that, then they would   
also know that Shinji was awake if they checked on him. That risk was a no-  
no.   
  
But it seemed like he didn't have to do so since Akane woke up on   
her own accord, and figured out where she was on her own accord, just like  
Shinji had.   
  
Seeing the figure left to him suddenly stiffen, he let out a low   
breath just a little louder than normal breathing to get her attention.   
  
Akane's eyes looked over his way.   
  
Shinji allowed himself a small smile as he saw that she understood   
exactly what he was thinking about. They had to wait until the others woke  
up and then try to escape. Who knew that the demons wanted with them.  
  
Akane nodded, the barest of nods, and smiled back at Shinji. Sure,   
they couldn't speak to each other- but there were other methods of   
communicating. Some more useful than others, especially when you've both   
got the same things in mind.   
  
Just a small wait.  
  
Just for the other three to wake up.  
  
Then, they would make their escape.  
  
  
  
To be continued....  
  
  
  
Author's Mad Scribbles:  
  
Ohgodohgod... what have I done?! Instead of writing my English home-  
work, which is due on the FIRST DAY of class, I get slammed over by a truck  
as I can't stop my fingers from moving to this story!!!  
  
I'm doomed... class starts on Sep. 12... How am I ever going to   
finish the four book reports plus essay? Especially when I have chores all  
Saterday and Sunday?!?! *chews nails*   
  
BUT... *deep breath* [icandoiticandoiticandoit] This story was the   
main point of my focus, yes. The breakup... I can't really explain that,   
I'm sorry. I just needed them to seperate, just like I made the Animorphs  
seperate. I needed them apart and fast. The people who followed Ukyou   
wasn't stupid. It's just that the idea of getting home can get to be   
pretty tempting.  
  
I know most of the character seemed... *squirm* different... in this  
chapter. You have to figure, though, they're a lot calmer and now have time  
to think about what had happened to them. Before, it was just find place to  
rest, rest, and find out people were kidnapped by demons. They had been on  
an endless journey that kept their minds elsewhere. Now, just walking, they  
have time to think about what had happened and the choice they did or did   
not make.  
  
I know this chapter's pretty short. But each chapter is larger than   
50kb, of that I'll assure you. Just so happens that I don't have much to   
include in this chapter... *ducks head* I know, I know, I'll get to the   
Witches as soon as possible! Charmed will be a guest star.  
  
--Shamera  
  
Next chapter! Just what happened to Ukyou that made her so pissed off?   
What's the situation that Suboshi and Ryouga are left in? Will Shinji,   
Akane, Daniel, Amiboshi, and Misty be able to work together to escape?   
They're never even met before this point!  
  



End file.
